Where It All Began

The RAD Society started as an idea of mine that begun building itself in my head shortly after sustaining a paralyzing injury. Almost three years ago I broke my back in a free jumping accident; from a 60' bridge I compression fractured my T6 vertebra on impact of the water below. As an active individual who enjoyed a full-time lifestyle prior to injury I was not prepared for the lack of available means to try ‘new’ activities with my new limited mobility.

As someone who loved to explore different outdoor activities before my injury (snowboarding, wake boarding, wake surfing, biking, hiking, etc) I wanted to get back to outdoor recreation as soon as my broken body would allow me. This has been extraordinarily difficult given the lack of adaptive equipment on the market available to try and the outrageous cost attached to this equipment if you could afford to eventually purchase it. There are few resources in BC that provide a selection of adaptive gear, and zero that will allow an individual to loan this equipment out to try independently.

My awareness of this void in British Columbia has been growing rapidly over my three years of paralysis and my aim is to fill that void with the perseverance of the RAD Recreation Adapted Society. Adaptive equipment is extraordinarily expensive and unavailable to most people living with mobility &/or pain issues.

I am excited to embark on this incredible journey with the RAD Society as I feel very strongly that a resource like RAD is filling a large hole in the promotion of active living in a traditionally neglected group of people.

Lets work together to start to build a more accessible BC!! (and one day all of Canada!)