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Shane Hartje is an entrepeneur who has run several successful for-profit organizations and is the Executive Director of the Winnipeg based non-profit organization First Steps Wellness Centre. First Steps Wellness Centre (FSWC) specializes in rehabilitation for people with neuro-muscular disorders where they help their clients regain function through the use of leading edge intensive exercise-based rehabilitation programs. They provide intensive activity-based therapy (ABT) to people with spinal cord injuries and associated disorders.
Shane identified a need for a centre like First Steps after he experienced a spinal cord injury of his own in 2016, when he broke his back at the age of 41 in a motocross accident and became a paraplegic. Shane talks to us about what it was like experiencing such a drastic shift in how he lived every aspect of his life, as well as how he decided to turn what could have seemed like failure into opportunity when he had to close his business and saw a need to serve people with neuro-muscular disorders in Winnipeg. Since his spinal cord injury, Shane has kept moving as he continues to travel and snowmobile, and he has completed the Manitoba Wheelchair Marathon for 3 consecutive years. He hopes to raise awareness for both the First Steps Wellness Centre as well as the possibilities in competitive sport for para-athletes in events like the marathon. He needs more competitors!
As you will hear Kim share in this episode, her brother became a paraplegic in a dirtbike accident when he was 13. Shane’s story resonates so deeply with her and her brother’s injury has shaped how she’s lived her life ever since his accident.
If you have two good legs that work, be grateful and use them. If you don't, there are still ways to be active. We hope that you will be inspired to keep moving in any way you can as you listen to our conversation with Shane.
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