Creating His Own Freedom

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“In the military we are taught that there is always something worse to come,” Andy Campbell said, “You can’t rest and think, well this is it.  This is as bad as it is going to get, because there is always something worse coming around the corner.”

Campbell believes it is that mental training that helped him to accept his paralysis after a rock climbing accident eight years ago and move on to bigger and better things.

“I would never say this is the best thing that could have happened to me or even that it was a good thing, but I also don’t rue the day and I am not going to mope about it.”

Instead, even eight years after the fall that caused him to lose the use of his legs, Campbell celebrates on the day of his fall, knowing that it could have been worse.  He celebrates because he not only lived to tell the tale but he lived to go on to create a life that has included some amazing adventures.

Campbell laughs as he says, “I have had a crap load of fun since I was finally released from hospital.”

He spent seven months in the hospital after his accident.  Five of those he spent flat on his back.  Although the immobility was hard on him, Campbell says it also gave him time to reflect, time to get to know himself and to plan for his future.

When he was finally told he wouldn’t walk again, he wasn’t surprised.  Instead, he was ready.  He was ready to get moving again.  To get his life moving forward.

“Because I entered the military when I was sixteen, I had never gone to university,” Campbell said, “So,  I thought I would go to university but first I wanted to travel the world.”

Through his military service, Campbell had seen a lot of the world but he knew he had not seen it the way he could with the freedom he now had.  He had not experienced it the way he could as a civilian.

As he made his way through that first year he realized how much he did not want to be tied to sidewalks and roads.

“I had gone from living an active, outdoor life with a strong purpose and ambition, as a career soldier, to suddenly being a disabled civilian,” Campbell said, “So, the outdoors began to take on more significance for me.  It was what I had left.”

Faced with a world of sidewalks and ramps, Campbell realized he had to have more.

“I think it is awfully nice of people to have created ramps and sidewalks so I can get around in a city but I don’t want a world that is created for wheelchairs,” Campbell said,  “I would hate that world.”

Over the past eight years he has created a life for himself that has included sit-skiing, paragliding, and kayaking.  He has found a way to continue his outdoor life from a wheelchair.

As he travelled the world, Campbell came to realize how lucky he is.

“I had a good job with good insurance,” Campbell said, “Not everybody has this.  People are paralyzed every day and in some of these developing nations they are just left in hospital beds.  They are looked at as having no purpose whatsoever.”

Campbell hopes to help change that.

In the summer of 2012 he will set out on a 30,000 mile journey.  He will use the skills he has developed over the past eight years to travel around the world, raising awareness and funds to purchase some of the equipment people with spinal injuries might use to live life with a purpose.

“I hope that this journey can provide something as simple but as meaningful as an off-road wheelchair for a dad so he doesn’t have to watch as his children run off to play in the park without him,” Campbell said, “I want to be able to give some of the freedom I have found back to other people.”

Freedom is exactly the word that comes to mind when speaking to Andy Campbell.  His accident did not leave him tied to anything.  He does not have the use of his legs but he has not let that stop him.  Using what he learned through military training and his own desire to always push the limits, Campbell has created his own freedom.

To learn more about Andy Campbell’s Journey around the world visit Pushing the Limits and watch

Freedom from andy campbell on Vimeo.