Rick Hansen’s Man in Motion tour is retracing the marathoner’s wheelchair treads across Canada to celebrate the 25th anniversary of that event.
This time, there are a lot more people taking part in the trip, dubbed Many in Motion.
The tour visited the downtown of Fergus, then went to J.D. Hogarth Public School, before heading to the Fergus Sportsplex.
School officials designated Emily Young, 12 and in grade 8, as its “Difference Maker.” She carried the Rick Hansen medal on her section of the relay across the country – one of 7,000 people who will have that honour before the tour ends next May.
The entire study body assembled at the front of the school and the Hansen tour bus rolled in.
The students heard why the tour was taking place, students learned that the medal contains an imprint of Hansen’s glove. He used 96 pairs of gloves when he wheeled around the world to raise awareness of spinal chord injuries. One of those gloves eventually made it into outer space.
Young was greeted with cheers and saluted with “high fives” as she made her way past the students to the front of the assembly.
Students were also introduced to Tyrone Henry, a youth who suffered a spinal chord injury in a vehicle accident about 18 months ago. He told the assembly he decided to keep a positive attitude, even though he has lost the feeling and use of his legs.
Henry carries the medal on longer stretches, using a lay-down bicycle that he pedals with his hands.
Young said in a brief interview after the ceremony that “the school picked me. I guess I was a leader.”
Principal Katrina Plazek said young is much more than that. She is an inspiration.
She said officials from the tour contacted the school last year and asked it to find someone to be a Difference Maker and to carry the medal in the relay.
Plazek said Young is the personification of “strength and courage.”
When choosing the 7,000 medal relay team, Hansen was looking to showcase Canadians who make a difference in their communities and who motivate people to make a better country and world.
She said Young has battled osteomyelitis and throughout it all, “She has been strong and courageous. She has maintained a positive attitude so much so that she enjoyed chasing her brother around, even though she had an external fixation device that was attached to her leg with five screws going into her tibia.”
As the tour pulled out, Young was surrounded and hugged by many of her classmates.
She handed the medal to Andy Speers to help it continue its journey. It then headed to the northern part of Wellington County.
