Life and Limb

A skydiver, surfer, rock-climber, snowboarder – Canada’s first Paralympic gold medalist in the sport in fact – a sailor and a contestant on The Amazing Race Canada reality show, the sky is not the limit for British Columbia’s Tyler Turner. The bilateral below-knee amputee, from a skydiving injury, lives by the motto: “It’s not about where you started or your end result. It’s the steps you take in between.”

Host Jeff Tiessen chats with Canadian Paralympian Kevin Rempel. Kevin fought for years to rebuild his physical and mental health. Not only did he learn to walk again after a motocross accident that resulted in an incomplete spinal cord injury, but he has walked across countless stages sharing his story and encouraging others. A member of Canada’s Paralympic Sledge Hockey Team, Kevin speaks candidly about his journey back from traumatic injury, and his strategies to combat his struggles. Plenty of practical “get-started” advice to adopt to become a hero in our own stories.

Prosthetics is an intriguing profession. It’s science. It’s art. And it’s social science in terms of relationships that are cultivated with patients or clients who, by way of life’s circumstance, may be hard to please at times. With over 35 years of experience with patient-prosthetist relationships, certified prosthetist Marty Robison provides some perspective on these "partnerships."

Megan Williamson is the head fitness coach at Ocean Rehab and Fitness in Vancouver. She’s also the head instructor for the North American Council of Inclusive Fitness and co-author of a resource called Breaking Barriers: Fundamentals of Training Clients with Physical Disabilities. She’s all about bridging the gap between rehab and fitness, making exercise inclusive for everyone no matter what. Megan shares strategies for achieving better health for anyone living with limb loss or limb difference.

A musician, writer, broadcaster, Christa Couture is proudly Indigenous and queer and a lower extremity amputee since childhood. She loves to share stories that intersect with disability, and is now the host of Season 5 of the AMI travel docu-series “Postcards from...” featuring a different Canadian city each episode. Her career's work has explored experiences of loss, which include several unimaginable ones in her own life.