Inspiring
MAKING A DIFFERENCE:
MEET four SPECIAL PEOPLE WHO INSPIRE OTHERS in very different ways
WORDS BY ANGUS FRAZER
Karen Darke - Adventurer
Karen Darke was paralysed in a rock climbing accident but has gone on to make a series of extraordinary journeys.
“When I was twenty-one I was rock climbing near Aberdeen. I fell, but I don’t remember much. I’ve just got a few little flickers of things, like the sensation of being lifted up in the helicopter. I woke up in hospital three days later and was told I probably wasn’t going to walk again.
One of the hardest things was going back to university and being surrounded by my friends who were doing things that I couldn’t. It’s easy to feel sorry for yourself, so I made the decision to become active again and started going to the gym. At first I focussed on what other people could do and what I couldn’t. And then at some point I decided I had to shut out those thoughts and focus on what I could do.
I spent time trying different things to see what I was capable of and finally got an off-road hand-bike. I thought, ‘Right, where would be a really amazing place to take it?’ As a climber, I had always wanted to go to the Himalayas, so that became my goal.
A lot of people thought it was a crazy plan but I had friends who were really keen, so we did it. I’ve crossed the Greenland ice cap, too.
I didn’t really think that was possible, because when you’re paralysed you can’t regulate your body temperature so you are at really high risk of hypothermia. And of course there are all the other challenges involved. But I enjoyed it so much and it was so amazing to be out there in the wilderness.
The biggest lesson that life has taught me is that we are stronger than we think we are. I get people saying ‘Oh you’re so inspiring’, and I’m thinking ‘Oh dear.’ Because I believe that we have to make the most of what we’ve got.
The spooky thing is, the night before I fell I said to friends, ‘I can’t think of anything worse
than being paralysed. I’d rather be dead.’
And of course that just wasn’t true.
You’ve got this life and you have
to make the most of it.”