MOUNTAIN LIFE - Coast Mountains | Fall Winter 2019

90 With two prosthetic legs, Turner began looking forward to chasing all the sports he loved—surfing, skydiving, skateboarding, snowboarding— with a new independence. And because his accident happened while he was working, WorkSafe BC was there to support the rehab efforts, help him return to work, and help him reclaim his pre-accident lifestyle as much as possible. “I’m incredibly grateful for that,” he says. “With the support of WorkSafe I am able to explore a little bit with these prosthetics. I want to see what I can do.” Thanks to the compressed air shock absorbers built in his Versa Foot, Turner is expecting to do a lot. “Like I said, I can click these dials and get a lot of inflexion. With my other feet, when I’d bend my knees, my heels lift off. That’s inevitable because those only flex a few degrees and they need to store all that energy somewhere. With the Versa Foot, that shock will release and keep my heel on the ground while allowing me to bend my knees up to 28 degrees, which is essential for things like skateboarding, snowboarding and surfing. In snowboarding, especially on your toe-side edge, that shock dampens what your ankle would usually do, absorbing all the bumps and vibrations.” The Versa Foot was created by Mike Shultz, a trained engineer and professional moto athlete who lost a leg in a snowmobile accident in 2008. Within six months of his accident Shultz had developed and manufactured the Moto Knee, a shock absorber-enhanced prosthetic knee designed for riding dirtbikes. He went on to create the Versa Foot and start a company called BioDapt to make his prosthetics available to other amputees. “I don’t think the word ‘adapt’ is negative at all,’’ Shultz says. “It simply means to adjust to a new environment or situation. We all adapt to different things in life whether we have all our limbs, or none. There’s nothing like that moment when you see the excitement on someone’s face as they realize they can do something they thought they’d lost, or figure out how to do something they never thought possible.” Over the past several years BioDapt technology has helped increase the performance level of adaptive athletes and Schultz says his dream is to get to a point where there is no need to separate able-bodied from adaptive athletes in competition. “I keep saying it’s a great time to be an amputee,” says Turner, “because the technology is so tuned into exactly what you need for each activity. The products are absolutely amazing but they are still incredibly expensive—and for each activity, a lot of the time, you need a different foot.” Turner estimates that for someone like him to start snowboarding with a pair of Versa Foot prosthetics, plus other components—as well as eight to ten trips to the clinic to test socket settings, it could run anywhere from 20 to 100 thousand dollars. With his plethora of prosthetic limbs, Turner has already returned to skydiving, skateboarding and rock climbing. He’s also surfing, and has cut the amount of assistance required from six people to just one. While he is incredibly grateful for that, the drive to be totally independent remains strong. “A lot of people have a big switch after an injury like this,” he says. “They flip their lives 180 degrees. I haven’t had that, I’m the same dude chasing the same goals, doing the same things I did before. Probably because I can’t let go of them. These sports are what fuels me and I want to be wholly independent and keep pushing and learning and practicing. I don’t want to show up for a participation ribbon, I wanna crush.” Outside of that passion, Turner admits he hopes to find ways to give back to the adaptive community—and beyond. “I’ve had so much support from friends and family and regular people, I hope I can find a place where I can help others too. Where can I help? Who can I help? I’m staying open to those opportunities.” With snow already falling in the Coast Mountains, getting back snowboarding is Turner’s focus. His trademark tenacity is there, but he also remains cautiously realistic. “At this point I don’t even know if I can do it,” he says. “I might stand on a board this winter and not be capable. Not that it will stop my drive to figure it out. I always said I’d like to get to the point where I can look back and say, ‘I wouldn’t change anything’, you know? We’ll see. I think that’s going to be a really cool moment.” In 1911, Harold J. Kalenze patented the “vehicle propeller” in Brandon, Manitoba—the first Canadian patent for what would eventually become modern-day snowmobiles . I always said I’d like to get to the point where I can look back and say, ‘I wouldn’t change anything’, you know? We’ll see. I think that’s going to be a really cool moment.” "My first time back on snow, 16 months post-accident.Also my first time trying sit skiing." JADEN STEINKE