> Fox medal winner finds new strength in sports
Fox medal winner finds new strength in sports
September 17, 2007
Fighting fires in northern Canada in the summer of 2004 was supposed to help Jessica Des Mazes earn money for her university tuition. Instead an accident involving her patrol truck left the aspiring athlete paralyzed.
Three years later, SFU’s 2007 Terry Fox medal recipient is not only back in class but hitting new athletic highs - with a string of recent national medals in wheelchair racing and dreams of representing Canada in wheelchair basketball at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Des Mazes spent months re-learning the most basic tasks with her remaining muscles. “What was most difficult,” she says, “was losing my identity. Instead of athlete, forest fire fighter, backpacker, I was now ‘the girl in the wheelchair.’”
After several operations and therapy she returned to school, initially needing sleep after each class. She eventually mustered the confidence to hit the track.
“Racing gave me back the ability to get outside and sweat – it’s the closest thing I could find to a runner’s high,” says the Vancouver Sun Run’s two-time defending Women’s Champion.
Since taking up wheelchair basketball and making the national team as an alternate, Des Mazes has represented Canada in Sydney, Australia and at the recent Para-PanAmerican Games, where the team won a silver medal.
“The injury has been traumatic, but it has also given me a greater awareness of who I am and what strength really is,” says Des Mazes, a former Kamloops resident who is finishing a communication degree at SFU and plans to study law.
“It has nothing to do with how much you can lift or how fast you can run. It comes from the core, what’s left when everything else has been ripped away. “
SFU’s Terry Fox medal is awarded annually to an individual who shows courage in the face of adversity. Des Mazes will be honoured at a ceremony on Thursday, Sept. 20 at 11:30 a.m. in Convocation Mall, prior to SFU’s Terry Fox walk/run.
Digital photo available, call PAMR at 778.782.3210
Three years later, SFU’s 2007 Terry Fox medal recipient is not only back in class but hitting new athletic highs - with a string of recent national medals in wheelchair racing and dreams of representing Canada in wheelchair basketball at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Des Mazes spent months re-learning the most basic tasks with her remaining muscles. “What was most difficult,” she says, “was losing my identity. Instead of athlete, forest fire fighter, backpacker, I was now ‘the girl in the wheelchair.’”
After several operations and therapy she returned to school, initially needing sleep after each class. She eventually mustered the confidence to hit the track.
“Racing gave me back the ability to get outside and sweat – it’s the closest thing I could find to a runner’s high,” says the Vancouver Sun Run’s two-time defending Women’s Champion.
Since taking up wheelchair basketball and making the national team as an alternate, Des Mazes has represented Canada in Sydney, Australia and at the recent Para-PanAmerican Games, where the team won a silver medal.
“The injury has been traumatic, but it has also given me a greater awareness of who I am and what strength really is,” says Des Mazes, a former Kamloops resident who is finishing a communication degree at SFU and plans to study law.
“It has nothing to do with how much you can lift or how fast you can run. It comes from the core, what’s left when everything else has been ripped away. “
SFU’s Terry Fox medal is awarded annually to an individual who shows courage in the face of adversity. Des Mazes will be honoured at a ceremony on Thursday, Sept. 20 at 11:30 a.m. in Convocation Mall, prior to SFU’s Terry Fox walk/run.
Digital photo available, call PAMR at 778.782.3210