{"id":36214,"date":"2015-11-02T12:45:28","date_gmt":"2015-11-02T16:45:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=36214"},"modified":"2015-11-02T12:46:34","modified_gmt":"2015-11-02T16:46:34","slug":"from-hospital-bed-to-marathon-finish-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2015\/11\/from-hospital-bed-to-marathon-finish-line\/","title":{"rendered":"From hospital bed to marathon finish line"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three years ago, Robert MacDonald didn\u2019t know if he\u2019d ever walk again.\u00a0Three weeks ago, he ran a half marathon.\u00a0Pushing your body to run 21.1 kilometres is no small feat for any runner. But, for MacDonald it was closer to a miracle.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 29-year-old Brock University political science graduate (BA\u201910) was paralyzed after falling 30-feet from a balcony in Mexico. MacDonald broke nine vertebrae, 11 ribs and his scapula. He also suffered a punctured lung.<\/p>\n

He was given a five percent chance of ever walking again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a really dark time in my life,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

However, he says he never gave up hope or his \u201cI will\u201d attitude.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat could have been a tragedy is now a triumph,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

MacDonald credits perseverance, luck, amazing health care and Toronto Rehab with getting him back on his feet.<\/p>\n

About a month after his accident, his friend and fellow Brock grad Eric Humes told him that one day they\u2019d run a marathon together.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time what he said, it was so unrealistic . . . it was so far out of reach,\u201d MacDonald recalls. \u201cI couldn\u2019t move anything in my legs but it stayed in the back of my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

A year ago, MacDonald told his physiotherapist that he wanted to train for a marathon and \u201cturn jogging and limping into a better run.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason I ran was to motivate myself, inspire others and give back to Toronto Rehab,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He accomplished all of those things when he completed the Scotiabank half-marathon.<\/p>\n

He reached out to his friends and family, bringing together a team of 72 runners who together raised more than $73,000. MacDonald raised nearly $20,000. Their motto: \u201cI will.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toronto Rehab helped me so much on my journey. Without them I wouldn\u2019t be able to run.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a mantra MacDonald wrote on a board in his hospital room. It meant something different depending on the day, but always remained a message of encouragement. \u201cI will do something more each and every day,\u201d he told himself.<\/p>\n

MacDonald says what started out as a fundraiser turned into so much more. He values all of the feedback he\u2019s received from his teammates and people who have been inspired by his story.<\/p>\n

Being an inspiration has inspired him.<\/p>\n

\u201cToronto Rehab helped me so much on my journey. Without them I wouldn\u2019t be able to run,\u201d he says. \u201cThe money we raised will help the next me.\u201d<\/p>\n

His accident happened on his third day in Cabo San Lucas in December 2012. The friend he was sharing a room with fell asleep and MacDonald couldn\u2019t wake him. Rather than walk the 15 minutes back to the lobby, he made a split second decision to climb to the third-storey balcony.<\/p>\n

His shoulder dislocated – from an old Rugby injury – as he attempted to pull himself over the balcony.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was literally on the last step to climb over the balcony when it happened,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He immediately knew something was terribly wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t feel my legs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within 36 hours he was back in Toronto being operated on by a neurosurgeon.<\/p>\n

MacDonald is continuing physiotherapy and says his recovery is a life-long process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe day I\u2019m dreaming of is when I can go out for a run and I don\u2019t have to think about running,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\"Robert<\/a>

Robert MacDonald undergoing rehab in Toronto.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three years ago, Robert MacDonald didn\u2019t know if he\u2019d ever walk again.
\nThree weeks ago, he ran a half marathon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":36215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[119,3319,1,4],"tags":[3537,3539,3538],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36214"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36214"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36218,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36214\/revisions\/36218"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}