a disability she can do everything that she originally planned on
doing before her disability.” The outcome? She is now married to
a fellow snowboarding enthusiast, she has two sons, and they ski
the slopes around Tahoe all the time. All of these were dreams she
thought were behind her once she lost her sight.
The group of amputees on Ouray – that was the first expedi-
tion Mike conducted with Paradox. “We develop different ice climb-
ing attachments so people who have an amputation or a limb
difference, they are able to participate in the sport as well. The
incredible thing about ice climbing is, as far as people with disabil-
ities, there’s not much difference between an able-bodied climber
and an adaptive climber. It looks the same. Same tools, same equip-
ment that any able-bodied person would use.”
And the guy who started walking after taking up skiing with
Mike? His name is Marshall Garber, and his story is perhaps the
most touching of all. When he was a freshman in high school,
a tumor was found on Marshall’s spine. It had to be removed,
even though the surgery meant there was a chance he would
never walk again. Post-surgery, the doctor’s fears were realized
and Marshall was paralyzed from the waist down.
After several years of intense therapy, Marshall was barely
able to stand up. That’s when he met Mike and the Paradox Sports
team. Marshall came with a group from Kennedy Krieger Medical
Center to do some skiing. He was sit-skiing (where you sit in a chair
instead of standing up), and was having a great time. Every day,
after his skiing, doctors would run tests on Marshall to see what
impact this kind of program could have on patients’ lives. The
results spoke for themselves.
During the five-day program Marshall was able to stand up
from his wheelchair. Doctors were dumbfounded. No one really
knew what was going on. One theory was that the skiing may
have activated feelings in his spine that either hadn’t been there
before or he hadn’t experienced in a long time.
Resilience and hardiness are personality styles exhibited by
people who can persevere despite the adversity they experience.
Hardiness and resilience act as buffers against stress. People with
these qualities have lower stress levels, fewer illnesses,^19 and
greater job satisfaction.^20 Samuel McKay, Jason Skues, and Ben
Williams of the Swinburne University of Technology in Victoria,
Australia, had 268 people complete questionnaires that measured
sensation-seeking, stress and trauma, coping, perceived reliance171 / Super Power or Super ProblemDownloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Access paid by the UCSF Library, on 11 Nov 2019 at 14:18:43, subject to the Cambridge