Skip to playerSkip to main content
Emma Chen's WC-Club
  • 2 months ago
follow us :
https://linktr.ee/ChenEmma
Transcript
00:00I remember I didn't want to ride that day and I went over a jump and landed on my neck.
00:08Eight years ago, Casey broke her spine in a motocross accident.
00:13Yes, I live a perfectly fine life in my wheelchair, but I want more. I want to not have limitations.
00:21Her dream is to become an active mum, up and out of her wheelchair.
00:27I know that I've put in every single piece of me to walk again, and I won't stop.
00:48Me and Mitch have always wanted a big family.
00:50Our goal was always to have a couple of kids and we wanted to bring them up on a farm.
00:55It's just taken a lot longer than expected since my accident.
01:01I had a spinal cord injury after a motocross crash.
01:04I broke my back at T4 and yet it's ended up being paralysed from my chest down.
01:11Casey also has a blood condition, which made pregnancy dangerous.
01:16Mitch and I have gone through fertility to do a surrogacy. So we've used our embryo and have a
01:25surrogate. That's Karen, our baby. She's nine months pregnant.
01:33As an early childhood teacher, she always had children in the plan, but her accident shifted
01:39her priorities and her career. I'm not too sure what I'm going to do with work once Bubba arrives.
01:44I guess we'll just wing it. I'm a very casual kind of human, so I feel like we'll figure it out as it comes.
01:50Hello, Next Step New Zealand. Casey speaking.
01:58When Casey had her accident and started rehab, she saw a gap in the fitness market.
02:03There's nowhere in New Zealand that does the neurological rehab and the like rehab that I'm
02:08doing with like spinal cord injury. So we wanted to help others.
02:11She retrained as a personal trainer and opened a gym. So we specialise in neurological recovery
02:18and rehab and anyone can come. Since my accident, I needed a purpose as well. So like getting into
02:25this was definitely, I found my passion for sure. Casey and her business partner, Aaron,
02:30are growing Next Step, reaching into other regions. Hamilton Gym, what's next?
02:36We're just waiting on a contract. Hopefully we get a draft in the next couple of weeks.
02:41Okay, so October. As much as I hate what happened to me, this is like my baby. Like I love coming to
02:49the gym. Like I love seeing other people work hard and like achieve like goals from, you know,
02:54like a bad situation. How's it going? Whoa, big weights on there. You got it. Again, it's enough of those
03:06ones. It's just, yeah, it's time for a walk. For our clients, I feel like this is
03:11this safe spot, you know, like a lot of these people don't just get the opportunity to leave
03:15home. Like they've had a stroke or something happened. You know, they're kind of stuck at home.
03:18So the fact that they can come here and feel safe, have like supportive staff,
03:22be able to move their bodies, be able to move their bodies.
03:35Look at this.
03:39Three, two, one.
03:44Clinically, Casey has a complete spinal cord injury.
03:49She's trying everything to defy the odds and walk again.
03:52I guess before you just don't even think it just comes like naturally but now because I don't have
04:00much feeling it's just trying to like feel anything like to make it work so like I'll
04:06got like a squeeze in my puku or like my bum so I'll like go with that to try and like lift my
04:11leg I think because I like haven't like accepted it so I haven't been like oh I'm paralyzed I can
04:17never move I'm still like I've got this like so I don't know if that's kind of it and I guess I do
04:22so much to like move my legs that it's still there I had stem cells in June last year and I did a lot
04:33of intensive rehab and I feel like I got quite a little feeling maybe from it stem cells are
04:40promising for people with spinal cord injuries but they're not yet proven and there are some risks
04:45it's really hard to know what's kind of working and what's not
04:49Casey has a massive rehab schedule of hyperbaric oxygen therapy walking therapies and electrical
04:59muscle stimulation I've been doing 30 hours pretty much of rehab plus I guess working and like life
05:06she hopes to one day run around with her kids on the farm
05:11I had an amazing childhood I come from like a loving family I have four sisters we're all very
05:16close like we lived on a farm we explored did what kids do like we raced motocross we played in the bush
05:24we milked cows you know we just kind of lived yes it was really cool to have experienced that and I
05:31want my kids to feel that as well so I grew up these two little new things so you've got to put them
05:42up for me you want me to nail them in yes with your big ugly nails but you're not allowed to see it and I
05:48want one higher than the other like that a little bit higher maybe yeah maybe like a little bit over
05:55over where left or right all right oh no left oh you you have no idea what your left and right so
06:03right do you like them first
06:06she's obsessed like the whole time all of all of it is at the moment is just let's get the room ready
06:14all the clothes ready or everything's ready for when the baby comes and it's just yeah obsessed
06:18I just kind of like play it off like I don't care where I'm staying in the background loving it but
06:22not showing the emotion of it like she was a preschool teacher first so it gives you the
06:27confidence that she's going to know what to do and hopefully take the pressure off me anyway which will
06:31be good I'm real excited I can't we've been wanting kids for so long like we after Katie's
06:38accident they kind of like like prolonged what we'd wanted and that kind of put like a
06:44good five or so years on what we'd kind of planned how's that look I love it I like it it looks cool
06:52and I'm excited I don't need any more days child of brew so just waiting for it to come now done
07:14she was late so she was 41 in five days
07:16then Brooke went into labor and we went to the hospital and we were all kind of together so it
07:26was really nice she's just so special and I can't stop looking at it I don't know how to describe it
07:36like it's weird and it's like I don't know I said this to my friend the other day I feel like I've
07:41always had it like it just feels normal
07:42I know what I'm capable of and what I can do like obviously things are harder and it just
08:06is what it is I might carry her a bit rougher and I'm not going to rock her to sleep and make
08:11her depend on me to put her to sleep every day because I'll wake her up when you're to bed but
08:15I'm still gonna be her mum and do everything for her but in a different way
08:19the cock slides so I can easily get her and I can lift her up I'm not lifting it over or anything
08:33I don't know you just make it work she is just a little angel I think I hit the jackpot
08:45hi mum good how's she been a little angel hey bubba say hi hi since the accident Casey's had to
09:03fight through everything so it's actually made her stronger and given her more confidence and
09:09determination and it's exactly the same as becoming a mother she's very capable and confident
09:16I was like last week I was like I can't wait till she's like biggest I'm not so worried about it
09:21I was like she's stressing me out at night don't be breathing now I'm like okay you're gonna say
09:27about this because I feel like I know that she's fine now okay so I'm going to have a child
09:32you're you guys are 30 and you still worry about your children always Tassie does get a lot of nerve
09:41pain in that but she's the person that doesn't ever complain really about it like very rarely she'll be
09:47saying oh you know like it's really bad or something like she do know sometimes she's in pain but she
09:52never really lets on she just hides it and carries on and pushes through and she's tough I live off nerve
10:06pain it's horrific but to me like I never had anything for like the first couple of years and
10:13then I started getting pain and it's got like more severe over the years but to me it's like something's
10:21coming back and I'm trying to get feeling back so I don't want to stop it mine is like you're in a
10:30vice on fire with pins and needles while most paraplegics will take heavy drugs Casey resists it
10:37majority of the time it's very intense and then other times it's kind of just simmering in the
10:43background the pain is horrible but I can deal with it you know what I mean like
10:51yeah it's just I guess you choose your battles and that's not my line good chickens oh there's one
11:03too many eggs for us to hand to us I have an amazing life but I want to walk you know and I want to be
11:12part of everything and not let my kids miss out because I can't do something for them
11:17I'm doing an FES bike so it is like a cycle bike and it also has electrical stimulation
11:27so I put it on like my main muscle groups that you'd use cycling and that will help like send
11:33signals keep your muscles strong so we do it every day just to keep strong legs and yeah just keep
11:41sending those signals through while doing something like functional
11:43so yeah I don't care right like I'll live with pain I'll live with bladder problems but I want to
11:50walk you know like that was taken away from me and that's like my biggest thing I've put in every
11:55single like piece of me to walk again and I won't stop
11:59Billy's five months now so yeah it's cool it's gone so fast
12:13it makes me like appreciate like my mum I'm like have you loved me half as much as I love Billy like
12:20having children was our main goal anyway and once we've had her now it's kind of I don't know
12:27it puts life into perspective really where you're just like everything's all about her and yeah and
12:32family and such I knew he was gonna love her and I knew he was gonna be a good dad so yes it was perfect
12:39it's fun right here
12:41yeah
12:42ah good girl
12:43I'm sleeping now eh
12:44oh
12:48oh
12:49oh
12:50oh
12:51oh
12:52oh
12:53oh
12:54oh
12:55oh
12:56oh
12:57oh
12:58oh
12:59oh
13:00oh
13:01oh
13:02oh
13:03oh
13:04oh
13:05oh
13:06oh
13:07oh
13:13oh
13:14we come to Western Springs in Auckland the speedway track which is um racing tonight
13:19this is fine it's different it's like the speedway it's quite cool it's very intense there's a
13:23lot of um a lot of flashed cars and stuff it feels like we're in America
13:36races race for years so we were quite competitive in like the women's league it was always nice
13:43having a couple of sisters to race against and to turn up with three sisters because they knew
13:49they had to beat one of us they've got to beat three of us and you could always work together
13:52with your sisters like right i need this many points to like get this and so no it was pretty
13:58cool i've always loved going fast just something that's exciting like a little thrills
14:10so my accident was first lap practice i remember i didn't want to ride that day
14:17i just had like a bad gut feeling i went over a jump and landed on my neck head first
14:25i don't really remember a lot i broke yeah pretty much under my neck brace
14:32paralyzed from your chest down
14:40when something happens to your child um this is seven years ago and this is the words
14:48to see your child and they have much pain and what's happened to them
14:57you just you can't comprehend you know i mean like you're just numb and you can't comprehend what's
15:03happened
15:06it's a big change for all the family you know like you know everyone it just affects everyone
15:14and no way do you wish that on your child you don't wish it on anyone
15:20yeah but you know we we've all pulled together you know we've always been a tight family anyway so
15:28everyone has always been here for for casey and for each other
15:33which scares me because he always wants to be good at everything and he's a person that
15:45he is like a natural talented person and then like with this he doesn't really get to do it often so
15:50he'll try even harder
15:55yeah the risk is still there it doesn't really matter how you ride
16:00i had a crash down in gisborne and yeah you're just coming around i think down the straights you're
16:04going just over 100 and then sled into the corner back for about 70 to zero and yeah managed to break
16:10my l4 my pelvis ripped some muscles off my legs
16:13i know our kids will probably get into motocross and like ride bikes and stuff and that's fine i
16:20think it's just scary and being in like the work i'm in you see so many injuries and sicknesses and
16:27things but i think life's way too short to kind of break yourself in cotton wool
16:51it's real fast in the world it's so scary like if you crash
16:54i just keep scared that he'll hurt himself
17:11one ride done i hate it the um outside here is like real slick hey slippery yeah
17:17i don't know i don't know what's wrong really hopefully it gets going you're dangerous you
17:26weren't like concentrating and like yes i got yeah no they didn't they were close i watched i don't
17:34like it i'm happy if your bike's broken what imagine mom doesn't want me to ride
17:47one
17:49one
17:51one
17:53one
17:55one
17:57one
17:59one
18:01two
18:03one
18:05I'm eight years in, I'm still not really moving that much, but I'm trying
18:35still because I want to move, so I'll keep going.
18:44I very, very much want to walk, just do normal things, you know, and enjoy what the world
18:50has.
18:51Yes, I live a perfectly fine life in my wheelchair, but I want more.
19:05I'll focus on keeping your ribs down.
19:19So we're just practicing standing and trying for me to hold my own like bum in.
19:25My back tries to like go onto a massive arch and that's kind of just like pivoting like
19:29holding me, so I'm trying to like bring my ribs down and keep my shoulders forward to like
19:34hold me properly, but yeah, it's really hard to do that because it like fights me.
19:39We see something new come out on the research and we can try it the next day.
19:45It's that sort of thing that keeps progressing here, results further and further.
19:52It's hard work as well, you know, you've got to put in a lot of hours and I have done.
19:57Like I know that I'll put in every single like piece of me to walk again and I won't stop.
20:02So lift it up and you squish it down, up, squish, up, squish.
20:09I see people come in here and they've got an incomplete spinal cord injury and they can
20:13move their legs or they're standing up by the end of the week and I'm like, you know,
20:17I've been trying for eight years and I can't even move a toe.
20:21You know, it makes a strong person and you've got to be able to like keep pushing through
20:25that to kind of get anywhere.
20:27So yeah, I want to change like the whole wording around complete injuries and kind of show
20:33that you can still walk or you can still stand up, whatever it is, I want to kind of change
20:38that.
20:39No matter how bad something is, you can choose to accept it or you can choose to push through
20:44it.
20:45And yeah, I'm choosing to kind of push through and keep going like I still carry on with
20:48life but I'm still going to work hard to achieve the goal that I want for myself and my family.
20:55Having Billy has made me want it more to be honest because I want to take her to the beach.
20:59I want to do fun things with her so it makes me push harder to get better.
21:08Can you hold my knees?
21:09Can you hold my knees?
21:10Can you hold my knees?
21:11Can you hold my knees?
21:22Nice.
21:23I'd probably say I feel like I haven't improved that much but then like looking at photos,
21:28I guess I'm walking on like the walker, it doesn't look perfect but by myself and I'm
21:32like that's actually cool because there's no way I was doing that this time last year.
21:37It's all in.
21:39You have to keep your body in the best physical shape as you can, like your bones strong and
21:44not even for walking, like for your health you know.
21:46If you get a cut when you're not moving it's not going to heal as fast.
21:50Your body was designed to stand up and to walk around so the more we can like keep fit
21:54and healthy, the better we are to like have a healthy life.
21:59Yay Billy!
22:01Yay!
22:03I think when you want something so bad you just keep going, like it's easy.
22:06Obviously I get over it and like down it and I'm just working all these hours to move
22:11a toe but yeah it's just kind of one of those things like I can't change what's happened
22:18but I can change the outcome by working hard.
22:21I think I just changing the 2 days.
22:22I think I am very often going, right?
22:24You would've tried to go.
22:25You could've tried wild, you could've tried, you could've tried to move your face one
22:26Do you like this wing?
Be the first to comment
Add your comment