13-time U.S. paralympic athlete shares story of resiliency
As a ski racer at Middlebury College in Vermont, Chris Waddell knew things could go wrong during a competition, so he was prepared for the inevitable. That is, until a ski accident damaged his spinal cord, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down and taking his perspective to an entirely new level.
The 13-time U.S. Paralympic athlete and Hall of Famer spoke to Layton High students about perseverance after the debilitating injury.
“Breaking my back in a lot of ways was the closest to death I’ve ever come because it took so much of what I was, but it was also the most powerful I’ve ever been because I had to win the situation,” Waddell said. “The situation was trying to squash me and trying to get me to quit, but each time I didn’t quit, I got a little bit stronger.”
Desperate to get back to his life, Waddell returned to school two days after leaving the hospital. Nearly a year after his injury, he strapped himself into a mono ski and began learning how to ski all over again.
When he first started down the mountain, Waddell thought controlling the mono ski would come easily, having skied nearly all his life.
“However, I felt like I had been cut in half. My brain was screaming out orders and my body was like, ‘I have no idea what you are talking about,’” he said. “I didn’t make a turn that first day. Eventually, I found my balance, and when I did make my first turn, it was the most exhausting thing I had ever done.”
“So, what do you do when things go wrong?” Waddell asked students. “No matter who we are, how smart we are, how rich or strong you are, things are going to go wrong. When they do, tell yourself this — it’s not what happens to you, it’s what you do with what happens to you.”
Within two years after his accident, Waddell became a part of the U.S. Disabled Ski Team and the most decorated male mono skier in history.
“Becoming paralyzed, I had to find another strategy to succeed. Some may see it only as a tragedy, rather than a potential gift. If I had never had my accident, I never would have become the best mono skier in the world.”
After accomplishing so much in the ski world, Waddell wanted to change people’s perspectives about disability. He set out to break the world record as the first unassisted paraplegic to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa.
“I thought if I could get to the top of the highest place I could find, that people would see me beyond the wheelchair. But I felt that to be seen, I had to do it on my own power,” said Waddell. “The problem was, I reached a point on a crater rim where I couldn’t get over the boulders. My team carried me for 100 feet of the 13,000 feet we had climbed. To me, that meant I had failed.”
Waddell questioned his guide, asking why he let him attempt the climb, knowing he couldn’t get over the boulders. The world-renown guide told Waddell, “Nobody climbs a mountain alone – everyone is a part of a team.”
In his struggle, Waddell admits he had not considered that possibility. The next day, Waddell achieved the impossible with his team, becoming the first paraplegic to summit the 19,340-foot Mt. Kilimanjaro on a hand cycle.
“Am I a victim or a survivor? I didn’t want to be that guy in a hospital bed. I wanted to prove that I could do whatever I wanted to do,” Waddell said.