{"id":50320,"date":"2019-11-06T06:24:10","date_gmt":"2019-11-06T11:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/?p=50320"},"modified":"2020-09-22T15:06:08","modified_gmt":"2020-09-22T19:06:08","slug":"injured-soldier-becomes-world-class-athlete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/healthy-tomorrows\/injured-soldier-becomes-world-class-athlete\/","title":{"rendered":"Injured soldier becomes world-class athlete"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Mike
MCpl Mike Trauner spent 19 years with the Canadian Armed Forces before he was injured by an improvised explosive device in December, 2008.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A soldier\u2019s life can change in an instant. For\nMike Trauner, that instant happened on December 5, 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike, a Master Corporal in the Canadian\nLight Infantry, was on patrol in Afghanistan when an improvised explosive device\nwent off. The force of the explosion severed both his legs, and severely\ninjured both his arms and hands. His hearing was damaged, and he had shrapnel\nin his eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike was first rushed to a military\nhospital in Germany, and then sent to the Trauma Centre at the Civic Campus. Once\nhe was ready, he was transferred to The\nOttawa Hospital Rehabilitation Centre<\/a> to begin his long journey of \u2018finding\nhis new normal.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI remember when I went in the\nRehabilitation Centre. It was very, very heartwarming and welcoming,\u201d Mike\nrecalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the road ahead was paved with months of\ngrueling hard work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy days were full,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was like\na full workday.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike\u2019s days were full of a combination of physiotherapy, occupational therapy, psychological support, and appointments with prosthetists who helped him get fitted for and begin to use his prosthetic legs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d give him a challenge, and he\u2019d take it on.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Marie Andr\u00e9e Paquin, a senior\nphysiotherapist at The Ottawa Hospital Rehabilitation Centre, remembers Mike\u2019s\nwillingness to take on new challenges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMike was a real typical soldier,\u201d said Paquin.\n\u201cI\u2019d give him a challenge, and he\u2019d take it on. I remember when he first got\nhere, I showed him an exercise he could do in bed, and Mike said to me \u2018ok, how\nmany do you want me to do? One hundred?\u2019 He was always pushing the limits.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike\u2019s positive attitude certainly helped him\novercome many physical challenges, but some of his perceptions also had to\nchange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I first got [to the Rehabilitation Centre], I really had no idea of what an amputee could do,\u201d Mike said. \u201cI could have followed the myth that you get your prosthetics and you can walk instantaneously and you\u2019re miraculously healed, or that you\u2019re going to be stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of your life and you\u2019re not really going to be able to do anything for the rest of your life.\u201d But with the help of Paquin and many others on his care team, Mike began to discover his \u201cnew normal.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mike
Mike tried a variety of sports, including handcycling.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost of society, even in Canada, thinks that once you have a disability, that puts you at a severe disadvantage,\u201d said Mike. \u201cYou can no longer do things that normal people can do. And you really do go into the hospital believing that \u2013 until people at the hospital tell you otherwise and show you otherwise – that you can actually do these things.\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They showed me what was actually possible. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Paquin tailored a rehabilitation plan that\nincorporated Mike\u2019s interests, catered to his personality and helped him work\ntoward his rehabilitation goals. They went on long walks carrying heavy\nbackpacks to simulate an element of the army fitness test at the time. They\nwent snowshoeing. They travelled to San Antonio Texas to compete in a mini\ntriathlon for injured soldiers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s this individualized approach that\nmakes the team at the Rehabilitation Centre so special.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re very patient-centred,\u201d said Paquin. \u201cWe adapt to the needs of each patient. The whole team is focused on where our patients can go physically and what they can achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mike
His Royal Highness Prince Harry awarded Mike a gold medal at the 2017 Invictus Games after the indoor rowing event.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can\u2019t really see myself going anywhere else,\u201d Mike said. \u201cI think the Rehabilitation Centre really gave me everything that I need. Everything they did was completely tailored toward me. So I\u2019m really, really glad that they worked extra hard and put in the diligence to come up with this plan and this program just for me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike\u2019s competitive spirit had been\nreawakened during his stay as an inpatient there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Rehabilitation Centre put me into\ncontact with a couple of sports programs, and they really reinforced the fact\nthat they wanted me to go out and try these sports,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since his time as an impatient at The\nOttawa Hospital Rehabilitation Centre, Mike has tried many adaptive sports,\nincluding sledge hockey, rowing and handcycling. In 2017, he competed for\nCanada at the Invictus Games and has since become a top contender at many\ninternational athletic competitions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, he has his sights set on the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. He would compete in the sport of paracanoe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mike
Mike is currently training to compete for Canada in paddling at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As Mike continues his impressive rise\ntoward the top of amateur sport, Paquin reflects on her role in helping Mike and\nmany other patients find their \u2018new normal.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have a huge sense of pride to know that\nI was there to guide them,\u201d she said. \u201cI did not lift those 50-pound dumbbells,\nbut I was there to listen to what they needed and try to figure out, \u2018ok, how\nare we going to get there?\u2019 I\u2019m always thinking \u2018what\u2019s next?\u2019 I\u2019m proud that I\ngave them the confidence to try.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Mike continues to make and meet\nchallenges, perhaps these words sum up his experience at the Rehabilitation\nCentre the best:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey showed me what was possible,\u201d he\nsaid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An improvised explosive device changed soldier Mike Trauner\u2019s life forever. Thanks to The Ottawa Hospital Rehabilitation Centre, Mike continues to discover what he\u2019s really made of.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50332,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[381,171,407],"class_list":["post-50320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthy-tomorrows","tag-patient-experience","tag-rehabilitation","tag-trauma-care"],"acf":[],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ottawahospital.on.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}