Former motocross athlete to open rehab centre for people with spinal cord injuries

A new rehabilitation program set to open thissummer will helpManitobans recover from spinal cord injuries without having to travel to another province.

"[It will be aplace to] meet new friends that are in the same situations and try to build up that peer group," said Shane Hartje, a paraplegicwho is the executive director of First Steps Winnipeg.

First Steps is a rehabilitation centrebased out of Regina that focuses on helping people with spinal cord injuries regain muscle function through exercise-based programs.

The Winnipeg location will be atthe Inkster Industrial Park.

Hartjewas a motocrossathlete who spent nearly a dozen years competing before he took a sabbatical. When his nephew started riding, Hartje'sitch to compete returned.

"I thought I'd get a bike to go run around with the nephew ... I went to Morden to race and about a lap and a half into practice a slight calculation error and I went over the handlebars and broke my back," Hartje said.

Hartje knew his injury was bad as soon as it happened. He couldn'tfeel anything below his mid-chest, he said.That was three years ago, on June 5, 2016.

His diagnosis was aT7 complete, meaning complete paralysis from the chest down.

The devastating injury came just asHartje's construction business wastaking off.

"For me, the most challenging part was the loss of identity," he said. "I was 41 years old and you get to sort of get an understanding of who you are and you build this person up over the course of your adult life and then something like this happens and all that changes."

Hartje has spent the better part of two yearsdealing with licensing, finding a location, and securingfunding for the facility, which is set to openAugust 5.

"It was frustrating for me to think that we were in this town that's four times the size ofRegina and we can't have a facility like that here," Hartje said about his motivation to bring the program to Winnipeg.

Following his injury, Hartje began searching for options outside the Health Sciences Centre, which he says only offers a couple hours a week of therapy, andis largely focused around completing daily tasks.

"There's no solutions for anyone post-discharge from HSC, so we're super excited to be able to get some of the people that are looking for exercise therapy or just coming out of the hospitals and get them in and get the system running," he said.

The centre will be staffed by at least one therapist to start, with plans to hire another two by the end of the first year to keep up with expected demand.

Before the accident, Hartje had participated in sports and worked physically-demanding jobsin the construction industry. Later,he was unable to hold himself upright without falling over due to his core muscles atrophying.

Before coming across the First Stepsprogram, Hartje was interested in getting stem cell therapy. But, even with stem cell therapy he would have needed exercise rehab to make it worth the cost.

He made the decision to pursue exercise therapyin Regina, costing him $10,000.

"I was trying to juggle all the balls and with my own company and keep the wheels on that, and it just wasn't really working," he said."So, I was a little frustrated that I had to be out of province and to go there to go get this therapy done."

Community building

In the one month Hartje spent living in Regina for his treatment, he met people who had spent years doing the therapy and were seeing results.

"You get to meet a lot of other people with similar injuries and you get to see people that are two, three years along, how far they've come, how strong they are what they're able to do," he said.

Peter Brewer, who has been friends with Hartje for close to 30 years, was stunned at his friend's resolve after the accident.

"The first time I saw him was in the hospital when he was getting treatment and help;he had a smile on his face and a thumbs up, he never looked back," he said.

"Since his accident, he's never let anything stop him, he sees an opportunity he grasps it and is successful with anything he does."

Hartje hopes the Winnipeg facility will provide a sense of community and be a place where newer quadriplegics and paraplegics can find inspiration and motivation.

Right now, the costis $90 per visit, but Hartje who has acquired charitable status for his business is aiming to get the pricedown through fundraising and donations. He hopes to provide alow-cost service where people can focus on healing, not money.

"When I got hurt I reached out to basically everybody that I could find that was in the chair ... we want to try to accomplish that community sense where people can come in here and feel safe working out with us," he said.

First Steps Winnipeg rebab facility

5 years ago

Duration 2:34

A new rehabilitation program set to open this summer will help Manitobans recover from spinal cord injuries without having to travel to another province.