Students learn to take only the smart risks, Chris Bourne shares his story with Grade 11 students
Posted Feb 16, 2012 By Jennifer McIntosh
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EMC news - Chris Bourne had just returned from a backpacking trip in Europe and was all set for one more day of freedom before starting a summer job to when an accident changed his life forever. 
Jennifer McIntosh, Metroland
Chris Bourne, a survivor of an accident that left him paralyzed from the chest down, talks to students at Longfields-Davidson Heights Secondary School about taking smart risks during a Feb. 10 presentation.
Bourne went to pick up snacks and beer with his girlfriend and was driving back to a campground in Orillia, Ont. He was so busy chatting, he didn't notice the freight train bearing down on him until it was a few metres away.
The train hit the left front corner of the vehicle and Bourne was thrown 20 metres from the car, hitting his back on the doorframe on the way out - causing a spinal fracture that would leave him paralyzed.
"I was just careless," Bourne said to a group of Grade 11 students at Longfields-Davidson Heights Secondary School on Feb. 10.
After the accident, Bourne was taken to the trauma unit at the hospital in Orillia, and then later transferred to a hospital in Toronto. The accident happened in the summer of 1990 and he wasn't released to his house until Oct. 30 that year.
Bourne, who was speaking to students as part of a presentation by the national charitable organization Smart Risk, called that day the first of his new life.
"I had bought a new car that was fitted with hand controls and packed my own bag and drove off on my own," Bourne said, adding the drive was indicative of the independent way he wanted to live his life.
Bourne ultimately went back to school and got his degree, finding himself in working in the field of physical activity and people with disabilities for organizations like the Canadian Paralympic Committee.
But if he had to do it all over again he would be more careful.
Smart Risk was started in 1991 by children's heart surgeon Dr. Robert Conn, who decided he could save more lives by putting the scalpel away and preventing injuries rather than repairing the damage after the fact.
Bourne is just one of the presenters from across the country that are available for the organizations No Regrets Live presentation. The hour-long, fast-paced video is paired with a live presentation to drive the the points home.
The five tenets of the presentation are:
- buckle up,
- look first,
- wear the gear,
- get trained,
- drive sober.
Bourne said the message wasn't that people shouldn't hide in their homes and not take any risks.
"That would be a different kind of paralysis," he said. "But there are ways to manage those risks and prevent injuries from happening."
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