May 18 is a day full of meaning for Sarah Doherty, who lost her leg on that date many years ago.
Every May she takes some time to do something reflective to mark the occasion that changed her life forever.
In the past she has used the anniversary to become the first amputee to summit Mount McKinley or to field-test her adaptive forearm crutches SideStix on an 800 km trek in Northern Spain.
Last Friday (May 18) Doherty was chosen to walk a portion of the Rick Hansen 25th Anniversary Relay in Burnaby - an experience she will never forget.
"I was thrilled to get the call," Doherty said, adding she felt it was fate that May 18 was the date she ended up walking. "I think Rick does good work. I think that it highlights the celebration of being more with seemingly less, and I just think anything that creates positive energy in a community is really good for the world and I want to be part of that."
The anniversary relay started in Newfoundland on Aug. 24 and ended in Vancouver this week on May 22. It retraced the Canadian segment of the original Man In Motion World Tour and featured thousands of walkers and runners donning the 25th anniversary relay medal during their leg of the 12,000 km journey.
Doherty said it was moving to put on the medal.
"I was holding a medal that was being shared by individuals and communities across the nation. It was very similar to holding the torch," said Doherty, who was one of the Coast's Olympic torchbearers during our Olympic celebration in February 2010.
"It's the power of being all connected by one single item. It's the spirit, and spirit is greater than force. It's just amazing. In that moment I was part of moving that medal just a little bit farther along - just the way, symbolically, we do with any cause."
Being part of the relay as it neared its end sparked some reflection for Doherty.
"One of the themes for me was how disability comes into a person's life and how I think a person is able to enhance their life by it," Doherty said, explaining that a disability often forces a deeper connection with one's self.
"But the second thing was that nobody does it alone and it seemed like everyone had their family with them at the relay, which is really important."
Doherty attended the race with partner Kerith Perreur-Lloyd who has been one of her biggest supporters and the technical talent behind the couple's product, SideStix.
"It meant a lot to have him there," she said.
Doherty noted that a few of the walkers in Burnaby on May 18 were using SideStix and that Hansen himself uses them from time to time when getting out of his wheelchair or getting into a car.
Since Doherty and Perreur-Lloyd received a deal on the Dragons' Den, sales of SideStix have slowly grown. Now the couple sells one pair a day and Doherty said more people are becoming aware they are covered by most medical plans and through Veterans Affairs.
