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Emma Chen's WC-Club
  • 6 weeks ago
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Transcript
00:00We're at the bottom of Kakapuka Mountain and we're going to try and make it to the top.
00:09I've got a bit of a team to help push me up.
00:11Are you getting some push from that side drive pad?
00:14A little bit, yeah.
00:15All bits of it are quite tough.
00:17There's going to be some challenges that we'll have to work out as we go along,
00:20but she's got a good group of friends coming to help.
00:22A really blown away for challenges that she set herself.
00:25I don't know how she's going to climb this mountain.
00:27I've climbed that mountain and it's pretty hard work.
00:29I've always been a mountain climber and since my accident,
00:33I've found a really important part of my recovery is reclaiming these parts of myself
00:37that have been a sense of my identity and finding new ways to keep them alive.
00:42Do you remember that, Molly? Have we got this in touch or something?
00:56I'm Pieter. I am 20 years old. I'm quite adventurous, quite caring.
01:02I like getting out and doing stuff and pushing the limits and I like having fun.
01:06Ah! It's been two years since my accident and it's been quite the journey for me and for my friends and family,
01:13figuring out what life looks like now.
01:16Dad, just let go. Let me try this first. I wanna get it working.
01:20No one can really imagine what it would be like to break your back and paralyse yourself.
01:26My family and friends really brought an able-bodied perspective into it,
01:29where being in a wheelchair is the worst thing that could happen to you.
01:31You know, worst case scenario was I couldn't walk again.
01:35But I've found if I can just do the things I used to do and be happy,
01:40people really seem to respond well to it. And so, for me, climbing Kakapuku is just about getting a team together
01:48and to achieve something that they've assumed I can't do.
01:52I've got all my off-road gear on. This one lifts up these little caster wheels off the ground
01:57so that they don't get caught in little bumps. And then I've got my BMX tyres and the motor on the back.
02:04Usually, I will plan things for myself that I know I'm gonna be able to do.
02:08And this one's a little bit out of my comfort zone. It's like, I don't know if it's gonna work.
02:11Woo-hoo! Stay doing!
02:15I broke my back at the T10, T11 vertebrae, which is about my belly button. So I have no movement from below my belly button.
02:34And I can feel a little bit, like, not hot or cold or any light touch or anything.
02:46I use a wheelchair to get around. I can't stand up or walk. But I can still do pretty much everything.
02:57I'm flatting in Auckland with my sister and four other flatmates.
03:02My sister found this flat, which happens to be very wheelchair-friendly.
03:07It's all perfectly kitted out. Like, even the carpets are easier to roll on.
03:12And there's gaps under the stove and under the sink and under the bench in the kitchen,
03:16so I can have my workspace right here.
03:19Hi, George. Hey.
03:21So there are six of us in the flat, and we each cook one night of the week.
03:28The hard thing for me is when I have to pick things up with two hands, and then I can't move anywhere.
03:36Um, like, if I wanted to take this back to the sink, I'd have to put it on my lap, but I can't do that if it's hot.
03:43Or, like, getting a hot tray out of the oven. I couldn't really do because my tipping point is about here,
03:51so I can't, like, lean forwards and sit back up without pushing off something with my hands.
03:58Marika, will you please come hot with the potatoes?
04:00Living with my big sister, Marika, she's pretty good. She's technically my carer.
04:05Will you please just drain them? And then— But then I need you to shake the whole pot.
04:11Yeah, yeah. She was my main support person when I was in rehab.
04:14I just love her attitude. She's completely different than everyone else.
04:19And Marika wouldn't be like, this sucks, but you're gonna have to deal with this.
04:23Like, brush yourself off and get up and do what you have to do.
04:27And that's kind of what I needed to hear.
04:30Are you filming your rescue? Yes.
04:32I think it's been definitely a bit of a rollercoaster for our mum and dad.
04:36I think they both went through a lot of grief and just a lot of worry about what would happen,
04:42what Pieta's life would turn out to be.
04:44I need my buckle in.
04:46Growing up, Pieta was the crazy one.
04:50She was always running around, trying to get us to play games and do things, skiing off cliffs.
04:57It would be me and her going out mountain biking and cycling and climbing mountains and stuff with our dad,
05:04leaving the brothers at home.
05:06I moved to Ecuador at the start of 2019.
05:10I just finished high school and I was on a gap year.
05:13I'd been there for about five months, teaching English in a village and doing some environmental work.
05:18And my family had come over to see where I'd been living and go on a bit of a holiday.
05:23And I took them to my village to meet all the families I'd been staying with and the people I'd been working with.
05:29You know, the thing that really struck me when I was there is that the whole village knew Pieta and they all loved her.
05:34And, you know, she would be walking through the village and everyone was saying hi.
05:40On the day of my accident, we bussed to the nearest town and then we had lunch in the restaurant.
05:47And then we were walking down and they have this big swing and you swung down over the hill.
05:53I went on it like every week. It was so much fun.
05:55So I was like, oh, we've got to have a go on the swing.
05:57And I made my little sister go first.
05:59And then my boyfriend at the time went on it.
06:03And as he was going on it, I thought I would just be cool and grab on and go along for the ride.
06:12But I didn't get a proper grip.
06:15When we were right at the peak of the swing, my hands slipped and I fell.
06:22Down below there was a road.
06:24And I just happened to fall onto the brick track instead of onto the long grass next to it.
06:28Flat on my back and broke my spine at T10 and punctured a lung.
06:34She was unconscious when I first found her, but she woke up fairly quickly and in a lot of pain.
06:40There's no ambulance service or air ambulance or anything like that in Ecuador.
06:44So the village came there with a ute and we put a mattress on the back of the ute and rushed off into Quito.
06:52We eventually got her into this hospital on a ventilator and some pain medications.
06:58And that was probably three or four hours after the accident.
07:02Very traumatic. Worst day of my life.
07:10And as soon as what had happened happened, I thought, you know, as long as she survives,
07:14if she's alive, we can cope with anything else.
07:16And that's what I just kept telling myself.
07:18And, you know, there was touch and go moments there in that first month.
07:21She got pneumonia in Ecuador and it's like, legs are optional, breathing's not optional.
07:27While I was in Ecuador, my parents were telling me I'd go back to rehab in New Zealand and learn how to walk.
07:34That never happened. We came back to Middlemore and the rehab doctors came to visit
07:39and they were like, chances of recovery are really low. And I didn't really care at that time.
07:49I think I was never really expecting to walk again.
07:52It feels pretty obvious when you were lying there, you can't feel your legs, you can't move them.
07:56Some people wanted me to try meditating myself better or try acupuncture or trying to give me hope.
08:02And I didn't really want that because I didn't really, I couldn't make myself believe it.
08:07And I just wanted to get into a wheelchair and make this new way of life work for me.
08:12And after my accident, I wasn't allowed to sit up in a wheelchair for a couple months.
08:37And for me, worst-case scenario was I was still stuck in bed. Getting in a wheelchair sounded great.
08:44All right, all right.
08:47After she recovered from her back operation, then she got pneumonia
08:51and we were in the hospital in Ecuador for about a month.
08:56The first air ambulance flight that she did from Ecuador up to L.A.,
09:00the medics on that flight just didn't pay any attention and they weren't moving her and rolling her.
09:05And by the time she got to L.A. and handed over to some Australian medical crew,
09:11they said, you know, she's got problems with a pressure sore.
09:14They looked after her really well on the trip back, but it was too late.
09:17She just had to stay in bed for about three months before she could get up and get in a wheelchair.
09:21Oh, it's getting sick.
09:23Come on, come on. I want this thing to look.
09:26It took her a long time to get back in a chair. We had a lot of issues with bed sores.
09:36But once she was allowed back up, she was pretty fierce about it.
09:39She didn't want to stick to the restrictions of, you know, only half an hour or whatever it was.
09:45She'd be wanting to go and play basketball and go down to the garden and do as much as she can until she was absolutely collapsing.
09:53Once I was up in a chair, I think it was only another, like, four or five weeks, and then I was out of there.
09:59When I was in rehab, I had no idea if I would ever be independent again with my personal cares.
10:09I really started from scratch. Everything's just a little bit harder.
10:13Like, everything just takes a little bit longer.
10:16I have to get into my commode, my shower chair to shower and use the bathroom.
10:22I don't have any bladder or bowel function, so I have to do that manually.
10:27That's taken a bit of adjustment to learn what works for me, and everyone does it slightly differently.
10:33So a big part of the journey since my accident has been learning to listen to my body.
10:38Now it sort of seems like it's speaking a different language.
10:42Now I've learnt to read the signs from my body and to look after myself.
10:47And so I've managed to get my morning routine time down,
10:52so it only takes me an hour to get ready if I'm doing well.
10:58And I'm independent, and that gives me so much freedom in my day-to-day life.
11:04So I think my life now is pretty much very similar to what it would have been if I hadn't broken my back.
11:11I would have come back and gone to uni and probably flattered in Auckland anyway.
11:23I've gotten a new car since I had my accident, and it was huge for me.
11:27It gave me so much more independence and so much freedom to do what I wanted to.
11:35It has an abbey loader that brings my wheelchair into the boot for me.
11:39And it has hand controls installed.
11:45It was actually pretty easy to learn how to control with hand controls.
11:49I push forwards to brake, and then I push down to accelerate.
11:55And my left hand is on a spinner, which means I can do tight circles.
12:00And it's also got all the controls on there for the indicator and headlights and window wipers.
12:05When I'm thinking about going somewhere new, I have to think things through before I go places.
12:10Like, I have to make sure it's accessible.
12:14But I'm pretty privileged that access isn't too big of an issue for me.
12:19I don't really let anything get in my way if I really want to do something.
12:25She's still a battler. She'll still never let anyone tell her no.
12:31She is a fighter and just will do whatever she wants and whatever she puts her mind to.
12:40I study a conjoint degree in health science and global studies at Auckland Uni.
12:45I'm majoring in population health, keeping a population as a whole healthy.
12:51Hello. Oh, Alyssa. How's it going?
12:53I find people who are my age who meet me act completely normal.
12:59People more middle-aged will sometimes just ask me what happened to me first,
13:02then it comes out of their mouth, which I always find a little bit intrusive.
13:06That's not the most important thing about me. Like, maybe get to know me first before you ask me
13:10about the most traumatic thing that's ever happened to me or whatever.
13:13Oh, we must be about three and a half kilometres up. Yeah, we've lost the mountain bike track sort of thing. And, um, it's a bit more rough now.
13:35We're making better progress than I thought we would actually. Yeah, it's a good team. Good sharing the workload.
13:42Go left.
13:44She was always active. She's determined to get back into sports.
13:48Obviously, there's some sports that she won't be able to do any more, but there are a lot that she still can.
13:54Just any opportunity that comes up, she just grabs it with both hands.
14:00It's a good idea.
14:01Let's do it.
14:02This is Jake. He's my climbing buddy. Takes me rock climbing.
14:17Um.
14:18Is that it?
14:19That's all I can think of to say about you.
14:21Okay.
14:22What else am I supposed to say?
14:24You've got one pretty cool adventures.
14:26Yeah, Jake piggybacks me onto the beach. That's why I keep him around.
14:31I like to keep myself busy with a lot of sports.
14:34I've been playing basketball, and I also have been really getting into paracycling, hand cycling.
14:39But I'm always trying new sports.
14:43I love going to the beach, which is really a great hobby to have as a wheelchair user.
14:47It means I need to have strong friends who can piggyback me onto the beach, but we make it work.
14:54I used to rock climb while I was in high school with my dad.
15:01I think it was a para-fed event. Someone emailed me and was like,
15:05Oh, we're going rock climbing. I was like, OK.
15:07And I went there, and I was the only one in a wheelchair, and I was like,
15:09Oh, how is this going to work?
15:11But the man at Extreme Edge rigged up the special belay system that could get me up the wall.
15:17So that was really cool to get back into that.
15:19Ready? Yeah, good to go.
15:26Before, it might have been more about technique.
15:28It's more now about willpower and stamina and strength.
15:32What up, get her? Good stuff.
15:34She's definitely really determined. She is super strong.
15:38I was so impressed at how strong she was when she first came in for that first time.
15:42And she just keeps improving every time she comes in.
15:45Here's the tricky section. Oh, good press. What up?
15:48I think it's quite a unique sport in that you get these little bursts of a sense of achievement,
15:53and you can really challenge yourself. But it is really hard.
15:57Like, I don't think I've chosen an easy sport to get into.
16:01Between the hitch line, right?
16:05Yeah!
16:09You know, maybe— I reckon maybe you've got the hang of it by now.
16:13I think one of the best things I've learned since becoming paralysic
16:17is asking for help.
16:20It feels like you're being a burden, but it's actually such a gift,
16:23because people love helping.
16:26Her friend group have been fantastic.
16:28Really, really close group of friends from school,
16:30but she's, you know, developed new friends up in Auckland as well.
16:33And they're fantastic. They just carry on being Peter's good mates.
16:37Are you gonna be right for this, Jake? It's a pretty big flight.
16:41I don't think I'll be doing too much after that, though.
16:44My support system are the most important part of my life.
16:47When I got back from Ecuador, I remember thinking,
16:50as long as I get to see everyone and spend time with my friends and family,
16:53I'll still be happy. I'll still have a happy life.
16:56You OK? Yeah.
16:59My friends have been really great. They've been right by my side the whole time.
17:13And they always make sure to include me, which I really appreciate.
17:17They've learnt how to help me get upstairs and downstairs.
17:23They've learnt how to fit my wheelchair into their cars so I can go places with them and stuff.
17:27That is pretty good at getting me up and down steps.
17:30Yeah. A lot of practice.
17:33I've carried you on my back a few times.
17:35Yeah, I do get piggybacks.
17:36But you don't trust me enough.
17:37I think you're exaggerating.
17:39In the crowds.
17:40Oh, do you want to push that? Do you want to push?
17:42No, no, no. I'm good. Fine.
17:44Just keep walking.
17:46I think we can't achieve our full potential as a society
17:50if we're not realising the full potential of disabled population who have barriers.
17:55I'm just going to go to the bathroom.
17:57I think there's a lot more we can be doing to make public places more accessible for everyone.
18:02So, in Maddy's house, I pee into the bath because I don't fit in the toilet,
18:07which is actually a common theme in lots of people's houses.
18:12I tend to have tiny little toilets, but luckily I pee through, like, a straw
18:17so I can just get the straw going into the bath.
18:21This is my pee kit that I use to pee.
18:24And so this is called a catheter.
18:26It's pretty much like a straw that goes into my bladder so I can empty it
18:31because I don't have the muscle control to choose to pee anymore.
18:36And so I just connect it to this longer tube that I can put in the bath.
18:42And, um, I've got hand sanitiser in here so I don't give myself a bladder infection and some lube.
18:50And then I just put this, without touching it, um, into my bladder so I can drain it out.
19:03I've always been a writer. I used to write for, like, the community newsletter when I was a kid.
19:07And so I started a blog when I went overseas just to keep people updated.
19:11And then when I injured myself, everyone was really concerned about how I was doing mentally
19:16and how I was dealing with it.
19:17And so I shared a little bit about my thought process and how it felt to me
19:22and what I'd noticed about how people around me responded.
19:26My most recent piece, I wrote a piece for, um, All Is For All's blogging platform.
19:31I think it's called Amplify, about disability pride and how to find, um, pride in the disabled community
19:40and how to be proud of my disabled body.
19:43I think there's just the underlying assumption that a disabled person has a worse life
19:49or that it's something to feel pity for them.
19:52But then you listen to the disabled community, all these people who are super happy and vibrant
19:59and they love the bodies they're in.
20:01It's like it actually doesn't have to be such a negative thing.
20:03That's sort of our ableist lens that we put on things.
20:06Hi, everybody. Hi. Hello.
20:08Hello.
20:09How are you?
20:11Hi, Mum. How you doing?
20:13I come up and see Peter whenever I can, really.
20:15Good.
20:17Check that the flat's reasonably tidy and that there's food in the fridge.
20:20It's not your birthday hummus store.
20:22It is no birthday hummus.
20:23It's like three weeks ago.
20:25I don't even—
20:26Her attitude right from the beginning is,
20:27I'm not broken, don't try and fix me.
20:30And so she set that tone.
20:32Am I gonna choose my own mug? No.
20:34Look, I got a mug for my birthday.
20:36She hasn't wallowed in self-pity.
20:38And she didn't need an awful lot of encouragement or bolstering up or pep-talking.
20:43She's probably the one that pep-talked us, really.
20:46I think I'm proudest of the way that she's used her situation
20:51to increase awareness and caring for others and be a spokesperson for disability in general.
20:59For me, Mum and Dad have always been really supportive. I'm really lucky to have them.
21:04Mum's been a big emotional support, and she'll be the one I go to when I have problems or I'm stressed.
21:11And Dad always helps in really practical ways.
21:17Nathan from Hobartown.
21:19If I want to do something, he'll think of a way to make it work.
21:22Yeah.
21:24Fly till two.
21:26Of course, we're proud with the way that she's managed being faced with a disability
21:31and just carrying on with life.
21:33I think there'll be lots of opportunities for her.
21:35I don't know where it'll go, but it'll be good.
21:38Yeah, I think if you look back, whenever you go through a trauma like that,
21:42you know, they say within two years, you come back to either your normal level of happiness,
21:46and I would say we're definitely there.
21:49Woo-hoo!
21:52I'm as steep as I used to be.
21:54I think we just had someone—
21:56We'll just go behind just in case you—
21:58Just in case you had to lose balance or something.
22:01Oh!
22:03Yeah, it's just—
22:06I can't really imagine a life without going on adventures,
22:11without planning trips and making things happen.
22:15Woo-hoo!
22:16Look at that view!
22:18All right.
22:19We're at the top of Kakapuku.
22:21We made it.
22:22Summit day.
22:23The sense of achievement is shared, I think, but that's kind of a good thing too.
22:28I think it's a good way to clear your head and challenge yourself
22:32and show yourself what you can achieve if you put your mind to it.
22:37Okay, thank you.
22:38All right.
22:39Go.
22:40Go.
22:41Go.
22:42Go.
22:43Go.
22:44Go.
22:45Go.
22:46Go.
22:47Go.
22:48Go.
22:49Go.
22:50Go.
23:01Go.
23:02Go.
23:03Go.
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