Negotiating “Impossible” Terrains after Amputation

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of joining a very inspiring bunch of people who just happened to be   amputees at the second annual Teen Ranch Amputee Camp.

The idea of the camp is to provide contacts, information, support, confidence and friendship to teenage amputees and their families.  One of the ways in which the camp does this is through participation in all sorts of activities, such as archery, canoeing, art, horse riding, walking on high wires and rock climbing.

To my way of thinking rock climbing is the ultimate terrain.  For a start it’s vertical and all you have to heave yourself up that thing is a few “rocks” or lumps poking out from the wall.

Having never rock climbed before and seeing all the other camp participants clamber up and abseil down like a bunch of helmet wearing spiders, I thought I would give it a go.  After all how would it look if The Amputee Coach piked?

Starting that climb gave me a new appreciation of the concept of vertical, clinging onto those little bumps.  Half way up was not too bad, until I started to puff and the muscles in the forearms and legs started to shake and the psychology of the HEIGHT kicked in.  So one girly scream later and I was dangling off the wall thinking that was it –lower me down.  But looking down and seeing the campers yelling encouragement, I gave myself a quick pep talk – I go to the gym, I’ve got a reasonable core and all my limbs, I’m getting the hell UP THIS WALL!

 

And so I did and then performed an encore by completing my first abseil.  The best part of it was realising that I had done something that I THOUGHT I never could.  It was so empowering and all I had to do was give it ago. The worst part was – there was no worst part.

So when you are confronted with “tricky terrain”, back yourself- you might be in for a surprise.

Until next time … Cathy … The Amputee Coach