Category Archives: Adversity Into An Asset

[21/30] Finding My Tribe

#30YearsRolling [21/30] Reflections on the 30th anniversary of my injury One of the best parts of getting involved in sport again were the communities that I found myself part of. There was the athletics club, the training squad, the physio practice, the gym I did my personal training sessions in and the group of women […]

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[20/30] Getting Back On Track

#30YearsRolling – Post 20/30 – Reflections on the 30th Anniversary of my Injury GETTING BACK ON TRACK   It was quite ambitious to have one throw of a discus and then set my sights on the Paralympics, especially since I hadn’t seen the inside of a gym since a short rehab stint more than ten years earlier, […]

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[19/30] The 22 Year Pact

#30YearsRolling – Day 19/30 – Reflections on the 30th Anniversary of my Injury   THE 22 YEAR PACT    When I had to spend 8 weeks flat on my back immediately after my injury I had a lot of time to think.   One of the things I thought most about was sport. Specifically, about how I […]

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[13/30] Getting Political

#30YearsRolling – Day 13/30 – Reflections on the 30th Anniversary of my Injury   For much of my life I have felt like I was here to make a difference but I had no idea how I was going to do that.   As an idealistic twenty-something I felt that politics would be a great way to […]

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[11/30] Leaving Home

#30YearsRolling – Day 11/30 – Reflections on the 30th Anniversary of my Injury It felt like an eternity that I was out of action for.   18 months was a really long time to be stuck at home so sick.   I wasn’t going to dwell on what an awful experience it had been.   I was […]

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[6/30] To Give Up Or Get On With It

#30YearsRolling – Day 6/30 – Reflections on the 30th Anniversary of my Injury The change of schools and the deep immersion in music certainly helped to take the edge off the deep despair I was feeling.   For a while.   By the end of year 10 I had stopped getting stoned.   The feeling of […]

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[4/30] Creating Moments Of Artificial Happiness

#30YearsRolling – Day 4/30 – Reflections on the 30th anniversary of my injury     I’d barely had a chance to adjust to being back in my own room when I had to go to back to school.   Spending so long in hospital I’d missed the first half of my first year in high school.   […]

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[PODCAST] Overcoming Tragedy To Build A Better Future

Interview with Ben Donovan for Impact Unltd Podcast In this episode, we sit down with the inspirational Stacey Copas. At the age of 12 years old, Stacey suffered a tragic pool accident which caused her to be confined to a wheelchair. However, she chose to not allow physical confinement to define the entirety of her […]

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It’s Been 28 Years – Grateful For Adversity

Today marks the 28th anniversary of the day I broke my neck and drowned in a relative’s pool, leaving me a quadriplegic and needing a wheelchair for the rest of my life. For many years afterwards I hated life and hated myself, and at my lowest points didn’t want to be here at all. Fast […]

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30 Things I Could Never Imagined I’d Experience In My 30s

Sitting here today on what is the very last day of my 30s, and after a few weeks of deep reflection, I pulled out the pen and captured 30 things I’ve experienced in my 30s that I could never have imagined experiencing. Here they are, in no specific order: Published a book Left employee land […]

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