SNN_Dec 2021 Issue_web low res

SPINAL NETWORK NEWS 27
—Ben Lucas
Sport gives people hope. It’s
part of their rehabilitation
“A day I’ll never forget”
In 1989 aged 24, Ben crashed his motorbike into a
U-turning van and broke his L3 lumbar vertebrae which
left him paralysed. He has vivid memories of that day in
Newmarket. “It was a 50/50 call whether the driver had
seen me and would stop, or he’d keep going. I thought he’d
seen me. It was the wrong call.”
Ben went flying from his bike and skidded down the road
landing on his back. The crash blew his spine into pieces
with a burst fracture. He was in agony. “Strangely, I
remember being quite calm about it.”
Ben thought about a couple of mates who had broken
their necks in Blenheim and had fully recovered so he
thought that would be his experience.
In hospital. he saw an X-ray of his spine and realised his
injury was serious. “The next day the house surgeon came
around and put his hand on my shoulder and said: ‘young
man, you’ve had a nasty accident and you will never walk
again’. He left. Curtains were drawn around me and I
cried for an hour when the reality hit home.”
Ben called his good mate Mark Griffin to tell him he was
in hospital with a broken back and that it was serious. “He
took some convincing and then he came in… I remember
he fainted in the room, which we both had a laugh about.”
Ben then called his parents, in what he described as the
toughest phone call of his life. “I thought very early on there
are a couple of ways I can do this; I can feel sorry for myself or
I can make the most of every day and have the best possible
life. I chose the second option, and I didn’t look back.”
Finding hope after tragedy
ACC played a leading role in Ben’s rehabilitation.
During his time at the Auckland Spinal Unit, Ben saw a
photo of wheelchair racing and it sparked his imagination.
When he was discharged home to Blenheim, he travelled
across to Nelson to play wheelchair basketball every week.
He had a chance meeting with former Paralympian,
Morice Hennessy, who introduced him to wheelchair
racing. “I was bitten by the bug. I loved it straight away
and wanted to see how far I could go.”
Ben was introduced to track meets in Christchurch and
made an inauspicious start. “My first meet I got lapped in
the 1500m,” he laughs. “It was humiliating getting the
clap of shame from the whole grandstand as I came in in
last place.” He used that moment as a catalyst to take the
sport seriously. “I was determined to not get lapped again
so I put in some work and slowly I improved. In the end, I
was competing at Paralympic level.”
Ben Lucas competing in the Commonwealth Games Marathon in Christchurch.
Flying the NZ Flag
Ben competed in wheelchair racing in two Paralympic
Games in Atlanta (1996) and Sydney (2000).
It was an “unbelievable honour” to line up for his first
Paralympic Games in 1996 in Atlanta.
He made the semi-finals of the 5000m and 10,000m and
finished eighth in the marathon. In Sydney he didn’t get
the results he wanted but it was an incredible experience.
“Competing in front of a crowd of around 40,000 people
was a phenomenal feeling.”
Ben was the Kiwi flag bearer for both the 1996 and 2000
Paralympic Games – something he never dreamed would
have been possible in 1989 when he was lying prone in
hospital. After finishing 15th in the wheelchair marathon
in Sydney, Ben retired from all competition.
His highlights included winning a bronze medal at the
1994 Commonwealth Games in Canada and a gold medal
in the 1999 World Wheelchair Games in Christchurch. He
was also New Zealand’s Chef de Mission for Rio 2016, the
team’s most successful Paralympics with 21 medals.
During his heyday of competing around the world, Ben
began working with Parafed Canterbury where he
initiated the Parafed Canterbury Elite and Development
Squads and mentored athletes.
He says the difference sport can make to someone’s
recovery is profound.“Sport gives people hope. It’s part of
their rehabilitation. It gives them discipline, purpose and
that leads on to greater things as they go on in their lives.
They see others in a similar position to them doing great
things and realise that they too can do this.”