Disclaimer: This post was originally published in TechNews on March 8, 2014
It was a regular Thursday evening and I was working on my assignments when I suddenly realized that Tricia Downing would be here for Women’s History Month, but I didn’t want to go alone. I asked my few friends if they were willing to come along with me but they refused to accompany me as they were tired. I really wanted to go there, so I dressed up and went with the intention that I would return in 10 minutes, but who knew this event would have been so inspirational?
I got some free food (which is always awesome) and entered the auditorium. The moment I entered the room, I saw this beautiful lady sitting on her throne (calling it a wheelchair would be an insult) with her head high and smiling, spreading her positive vibes around every corner.
The moment I saw her all I could think of was how blessed I was. I realized how easy it was to be thankful when we are being blessed, but it is a challenge to be thankful when times are tough. I was complaining about the food at the Commons, but she made me realize that it could have been worse.
Downing, a passionate cyclist, was living a perfect life 14 years ago. That time she was only 31 years old and she already had everything she could have asked for. It was in the summer of 2000, when she drove across the country in 23 days and completed 18 races. She returned from her adventure and was all ready for a new beginning: her dream job which awaited her, and, was steadfast to make the next summer the time when she would make another world record in cycling. But who knew what the future would hold for her.
It was September 17, 2000, one sunny Colorado afternoon she started her day with what she loves the most, training on her bicycle with her friend Matt, when not only she, but her complete life collided with a car. It was that dark day in this athlete’s life when everything changed in a minute, and in a blink she was paralyzed from the chest down.
As mentioned on her website, “as a competitive road and track cyclist and lifelong athlete, losing the use of her legs was devastating on all accounts. As she re-learns to do everything from sitting straight up to navigating through her house in a wheelchair to returning to work and operating a hand cycle, her grueling recovery takes her to the very core of her athletic mettle.”
Sitting in that room and listening to how she struggled with her life each day made me feel so small in front of her. I just kept on thinking about all those times when I would complain about every useless thing, which can be changed and even if it didn’t, it would have not made a difference. I kept looking at her shining face and thought, “what if I could not walk or was bed ridden for a while? Would I be able to have the same positive energy within me or I would have died from depression?” I just looked down and said, “I am a healthy person who can walk,” so I have no rights to complain about my life.
Trust me, it’s not that easy to face this society with a wheelchair, no matter how hard you try but somewhere in your heart you know that people are looking at you with pity. They feel bad for you. Downing was once walking, not only walking but was an athlete and she knew exactly how it felt to walk. It’s not easy to overcome this feeling but this lady did it.
When she was sharing her experience of the first triathlon, I was amused to see her passion for sports. As a communication student I could see that she was doing everything as a normal person would do while giving a presentation. She was moving back and forth, moving her hands, having eye-contact with her audience, cracking jokes to give some comic relief and smiling after every few minutes, just to make sure that we are not sad but happy to see her. I can still hear her voice when she said these golden words about her experience, “when I entered the field, all people could see was my disability but when I finished the race all they could see was my ability.”
Yes, these words made me think about my abilities and gave me inspiration to be better every day. When she was telling us about the time she moved from rehab to her own house and all her family left her all alone, that was the moment when my heart broke into thousand pieces. I wished that I knew her at that time so I could have helped her. But before me this feeling could not go further and she looked at me and smiled and said that this was the time which made her stronger, because she ignored the little demon on her shoulder and promised herself that she will do something remarkable in her life.
Yet, she did and until now she has completed over 100 races, including marathons, duathlons and triathlons. She was the first female paraplegic to complete an Ironman triathlon and qualified for the Hawaii Ironman World Championships in 2006 and 2010. And another great achievement for her was when she competed as part of the U.S. Rowing team at the World Championships in Bled, Slovenia in 2011.
What a true inspiration you are Tricia Downing. I am so glad I listened to your inspirational speech and learnt how to be thankful. I thought I was strong but I was wrong, I am not an inch as strong as you are. You are a living role model for all those women who think they can't do anything. I am blessed to meet you. Thanks to IIT Office of Spiritual Life and Service Learning and IIT Campus Life for bringing her here. Trust me we all should really start being thankful for things we have in life, and what happens, because tomorrow - what we have, could be gone.
If anyone is willing to be inspired then you must order her book Cycle of Hope, which chronicles Downing’s journey from the first terrifying moments of impact with the car through rehab and her emergence as a world-class athlete. Please visit her website for more information trishdowning.com and you can also email her at trish@trishdowning.com
Link to original post: Tricia Downing: an inspirational woman
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