Justin Pines Shares the Challenges and Opportunities of Bouncing Back Post-Injury
At the age of 30, Justin Pines was an able-bodied man who thrived off adventure and fitness, enjoying the process of pushing his body to the limit through athletic pursuits like skiing and running cross-country in college.
In April 2016, Pines became paralyzed from the chest down following a split-second ski accident that left him trapped in a hospital room for months of rehabilitation.
At the age of 33, Pines was a man in a wheelchair who thrived off adventure and fitness, enjoying the process of pushing his body to the limit through athletic pursuits like adaptive skiing and solo traveling through France.
Had anything changed in those three years?
Pines sat down with podcast host and fellow wheelchair-user Ming Michelle Canaday in 2019 to talk about the challenges and opportunities of his new life, a life that was so similar and yet so different from the one that he had lived before. He recalled the weeks directly following the incident, when his worldview narrowed to a single hospital bed and his focus became relearning the simple tasks he had always taken for granted. Upon leaving the hospital, he promised himself that he would re-introduce himself to the sprawling beauty of the world, determined to never again find himself in a position where the entirety of his world became a singular room.
In many ways, the Justin Pines that Canaday talked to was not different from the man he was before the accident. He still had a tight-knit group of family and friends that gave him endless support. He still had an infectious positive energy. He still loved sports and adventures that toed the lines of his physical limits.
“At the fundamental level, I don’t think I’ve changed,” he shared to Canaday. The injury both reaffirmed Pines’ core values and unlocked a new mission that he intends to carry throughout the remainder of his life, a mission that includes disability advocacy. Pines was still fundamentally himself, but with an important perspective shift that came along with viewing the world from his wheelchair. Little things like the layout of a building or the accommodations of a foreign bathroom now stood out to him in sharp relief as he continued his travels post-injury.
While Pines acknowledged that the loss of physical mobility and a wider range of personal freedom was frustrating, the new perspective he viewed the world through came with opportunities as well.
Following his injury, Pines said the greatest thing he gained was a new depth in relationships that encompassed his family and friends he knew pre-injury as well as the new relationships he made through organizations for adaptive skiing post-injury. He cherishes both the old and the new relationships, acknowledging that each group played a huge role in his recovery process.
From Pines comes a lesson for everyone: with each moment in life, painful as they may be in that instant, comes a chance to not only overcome challenges but also find opportunities and meaningful reflections if one digs deep enough.
Written by Ryan Trombly
Ryan Trombly was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy when she was eighteen months old. The disability causes right-side hemiparesis that affects the entire right side of her body, weakening her muscles and limiting her mobility in everyday activities. Despite this, Ryan has strived to live a normal, independent life without any barriers and hopes to use her voice to advocate for the disabled community.