SPIN CHAT
Rhiannon Tracey Spinchat presentation:
On the 29 June 2017 Cranbourne Secondary College
This presentation given by Rhiannon Tracey taught me lessons that I will never forget. Her outlook on life and her positivity is amazing and extremely unique, considering her situation. My first impression when we walked into the theatre, was that we were going to be served an extremely serious presentation on the possible outcomes of reckless driving. This I deduced from the TAC; transport accident commission logo that was on Rhiannon's PowerPoint presentation, and I most commonly see the organisation associated with road accidents. I was taken aback by Rhiannon's positive personality. She was so open and joking about how sometimes dragging yourself out of bed on a Thursday morning feels impossible, but at least Friday is only around the corner. It was in this opening discussion about how everyone's day had gone so far, when Rhiannon made her jokes about Thursdays and how her morning had gone, that she delivered her first life lesson. Rhiannon explained the idea that bad days make the next good day even better, that yes today is bad because it’s Thursday and we are so close to the end of the week without truly reaching it, and yes her car almost broke down and she got a little bit lost, but tomorrow is only made sweeter knowing that you survived through the bad day to finally reach a good one. So, she noted, you can’t really appreciate the simple things in life without going through situations that are undesirable.
Her own story shocked me with the reality that a spinal cord injury can happen to anyone, I of course knew this but being confronted with someone seeming so normal as Rhiannon; someone who at one stage was just like us teenagers, had her whole world upended so suddenly. I had no idea that a simple jump into a pool could break someone’s neck and back, I always assumed that spinal cord injuries were harder to sustain, but Rhiannon is, in her words “wheeling proof” that quadriplegia and paraplegia can happen to anyone so easily. I was most shocked when Rhiannon revealed that she was a quadriplegic because I had watched the way she moved around the stage in her wheelchair, tapping her feet and moving her upper body, but the determination that she showed with regaining this mobility was beyond inspiring. Another message that Rhiannon bestowed upon us a few times in this presentation was that while you can’t control what happens to you in life, you can control the outcomes. It is what you decide to do with this situation that really matters. This message doesn't really sink in until you find out how hard she worked to beat the odds to walk again, not only was it a long process to get out of hospital after the poor medical care she received in Bali, but the mental process of neuroplasticity she went through in order to retrain her limbs to have movement, was extremely awe inspiring and moving. It made me glad to live in the country that I do, where I have access to good doctors and surgeons who know what they are doing.
Rhiannon's story enabled my peers and I to understand that just because we are young it doesn't mean we are immune to such serious injuries like these. Rhiannon herself was only 2 months off from turning 21 when her life changed forever.
I believe part of the reason that Rhiannon is so inspiring is her positivity, I don't think that only 8 years after such a life changing event I could talk about it in detail in front of a hundred unknown 17 year olds, but I am so thankful that she did. Watching her walk across that stage with the help of a classmate, was one of the biggest messages ever, that she used people telling her that she couldn't do something, telling her no, as motivation to prove them wrong. Rhiannon used her accident and her recovery to teach and help others, she didn't give up on life but rather let this accident empower her because what impossible really means to her is that I’m possible. The work she is doing not only by travelling to schools across the state to warn students, of the reality that something as fun as jumping into a pool can cost you, but also her work with her not for profit organisation where she helps rehabilitate people with spinal cord injuries, is simply awe inspiring. Rhiannon was such a warm character, so passionate about her work and educating others, and I know that her lessons will stick with me for the rest of my life. She has inspired me and the others in my year level, to not let other people tell you that you can’t do something, and that bad days only make the good days even better.
Chloe Purvis, Year 11