TEDxKC
Janine Shepherd: A broken body isn't a broken person
Filmed:
Readability: 3
1,609,445 views
Cross-country skier Janine Shepherd hoped for an Olympic medal -- until she was hit by a truck during a training bike ride. She shares a powerful story about the human potential for recovery. Her message: you are not your body, and giving up old dreams can allow new ones to soar.
Janine Shepherd - Pilot
Aspiring Olympic skier Janine Shepherd was nearly killed when she was hit by a truck during a training bike ride. Paralysed and immobile for six months, she was given a grim picture for recovery. But not only did she teach herself to walk again— she learned to fly. Full bio
Aspiring Olympic skier Janine Shepherd was nearly killed when she was hit by a truck during a training bike ride. Paralysed and immobile for six months, she was given a grim picture for recovery. But not only did she teach herself to walk again— she learned to fly. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:16
Life is about opportunities,
0
428
2997
00:19
creating them and embracing them, and for me,
1
3425
3150
00:22
that was the Olympic dream.
2
6575
1931
00:24
That's what defined me. That was my bliss.
3
8506
3446
00:27
As a cross-country skier and member of the Australian ski team,
4
11952
3749
00:31
headed towards the Winter Olympics,
5
15701
1645
00:33
I was on a training bike ride with my fellow teammates.
6
17346
4229
00:37
As we made our way up towards
7
21575
1944
00:39
the spectacular Blue Mountains west of Sydney,
8
23519
3150
00:42
it was the perfect autumn day:
9
26669
2464
00:45
sunshine, the smell of eucalypt and a dream.
10
29133
4185
00:49
Life was good.
11
33318
1433
00:50
We'd been on our bikes for around five and half hours
12
34751
2898
00:53
when we got to the part of the ride that I loved,
13
37649
2394
00:55
and that was the hills, because I loved the hills.
14
40043
3037
00:58
And I got up off the seat of my bike, and I started
15
43080
2698
01:01
pumping my legs, and as I sucked in the cold mountain air,
16
45778
2953
01:04
I could feel it burning my lungs, and I looked up
17
48731
2655
01:07
to see the sun shining in my face.
18
51386
3687
01:10
And then everything went black.
19
55073
3084
01:14
Where was I? What was happening?
20
58157
2994
01:17
My body was consumed by pain.
21
61151
3601
01:20
I'd been hit by a speeding utility truck
22
64752
2824
01:23
with only 10 minutes to go on the bike ride.
23
67576
3319
01:26
I was airlifted from the scene of the accident
24
70895
1848
01:28
by a rescue helicopter to a large spinal unit in Sydney.
25
72743
3608
01:32
I had extensive and life-threatening injuries.
26
76351
3052
01:35
I'd broken my neck and my back in six places.
27
79403
4136
01:39
I broke five ribs on my left side.
28
83539
2577
01:42
I broke my right arm. I broke my collarbone.
29
86116
2807
01:44
I broke some bones in my feet.
30
88923
2246
01:47
My whole right side was ripped open, filled with gravel.
31
91169
3260
01:50
My head was cut open across the front, lifted back,
32
94429
2294
01:52
exposing the skull underneath.
33
96723
1461
01:54
I had head injures. I had internal injuries.
34
98184
2363
01:56
I had massive blood loss. In fact, I lost about five liters
35
100547
2681
01:59
of blood, which is all someone my size would actually hold.
36
103228
3195
02:02
By the time the helicopter arrived at Prince Henry Hospital
37
106423
2791
02:05
in Sydney, my blood pressure was 40 over nothing.
38
109214
4371
02:09
I was having a really bad day. (Laughter)
39
113585
5403
02:18
For over 10 days, I drifted between two dimensions.
40
122635
5097
02:23
I had an awareness of being in my body, but also
41
127732
3229
02:26
being out of my body, somewhere else, watching
42
130961
2329
02:29
from above as if it was happening to someone else.
43
133290
1898
02:31
Why would I want to go back to a body that was so broken?
44
135188
3753
02:34
But this voice kept calling me: "Come on, stay with me."
45
138941
5722
02:40
"No. It's too hard."
46
144663
2505
02:43
"Come on. This is our opportunity."
47
147168
2953
02:46
"No. That body is broken. It can no longer serve me."
48
150121
3969
02:49
"Come on. Stay with me. We can do it. We can do it together."
49
154090
5504
02:55
I was at a crossroads.
50
159594
2283
02:57
I knew if I didn't return to my body, I'd have to leave this world forever.
51
161877
3868
03:01
It was the fight of my life.
52
165745
4158
03:05
After 10 days, I made the decision to return to my body,
53
169903
4750
03:10
and the internal bleeding stopped.
54
174653
4392
03:14
The next concern was whether I would walk again,
55
179045
3116
03:18
because I was paralyzed from the waist down.
56
182161
2530
03:20
They said to my parents, the neck break was a stable fracture,
57
184691
2722
03:23
but the back was completely crushed.
58
187413
1690
03:25
The vertebra at L1 was like you'd dropped a peanut,
59
189103
3947
03:28
stepped on it, smashed it into thousands of pieces.
60
193050
3218
03:32
They'd have to operate.
61
196268
2431
03:34
They went in. They put me on a beanbag. They cut me,
62
198699
2900
03:37
literally cut me in half, I have a scar
63
201599
2294
03:39
that wraps around my entire body.
64
203893
2916
03:42
They picked as much broken bone as they could
65
206809
2610
03:45
that had lodged in my spinal cord.
66
209419
1762
03:47
They took out two of my broken ribs, and they rebuilt my back,
67
211181
4111
03:51
L1, they rebuilt it, they took out another broken rib,
68
215292
2834
03:54
they fused T12, L1 and L2 together.
69
218126
3220
03:57
Then they stitched me up. They took an entire hour to stitch me up.
70
221346
3032
04:00
I woke up in intensive care, and the doctors were really excited
71
224378
3007
04:03
that the operation had been a success because at that stage
72
227385
3024
04:06
I had a little bit of movement in one of my big toes,
73
230409
3085
04:09
and I thought, "Great, because I'm going to the Olympics!"
74
233494
3341
04:12
(Laughter)
75
236835
1886
04:14
I had no idea. That's the sort of thing
76
238721
2273
04:16
that happens to someone else, not me, surely.
77
240994
3087
04:19
But then the doctor came over to me, and she said,
78
244081
2110
04:22
"Janine, the operation was a success, and we've picked
79
246191
3426
04:25
as much bone out of your spinal cord as we could,
80
249617
3352
04:28
but the damage is permanent.
81
252969
1104
04:29
The central nervous system nerves, there is no cure.
82
254073
3317
04:33
You're what we call a partial paraplegic, and you'll have
83
257390
3050
04:36
all of the injuries that go along with that.
84
260440
2992
04:39
You have no feeling from the waist down, and at most,
85
263432
3208
04:42
you might get 10- or 20-percent return.
86
266640
3021
04:45
You'll have internal injuries for the rest of your life.
87
269661
3121
04:48
You'll have to use a catheter for the rest of your life.
88
272782
2418
04:51
And if you walk again, it will be with calipers and a walking frame."
89
275200
5502
04:56
And then she said, "Janine,
90
280702
1611
04:58
you'll have to rethink everything you do in your life,
91
282313
2103
05:00
because you're never going to be able to do the things you did before."
92
284416
4760
05:05
I tried to grasp what she was saying.
93
289176
2713
05:07
I was an athlete. That's all I knew. That's all I'd done.
94
291889
2462
05:10
If I couldn't do that, then what could I do?
95
294351
3248
05:13
And the question I asked myself is, if I couldn't do that,
96
297599
3870
05:17
then who was I?
97
301469
1851
05:23
They moved me from intensive care to acute spinal.
98
307735
3320
05:26
I was lying on a thin, hard spinal bed.
99
311055
2419
05:29
I had no movement in my legs. I had tight stockings on
100
313474
2543
05:31
to protect from blood clots.
101
316017
1914
05:33
I had one arm in plaster, one arm tied down by drips.
102
317931
3125
05:36
I had a neck brace and sandbags on either side of my head
103
321056
2757
05:39
and I saw my world through a mirror
104
323813
1929
05:41
that was suspended above my head.
105
325742
3358
05:45
I shared the ward with five other people,
106
329100
3477
05:48
and the amazing thing is that because we were all lying
107
332577
2255
05:50
paralyzed in a spinal ward, we didn't know what each other looked like.
108
334832
5071
05:55
How amazing is that? How often in life
109
339903
3137
05:58
do you get to make friendships, judgment-free,
110
343040
4714
06:03
purely based on spirit?
111
347754
2734
06:06
And there were no superficial conversations
112
350488
2511
06:08
as we shared our innermost thoughts, our fears,
113
352999
3328
06:12
and our hopes for life after the spinal ward.
114
356327
4658
06:16
I remember one night, one of the nurses came in,
115
360985
2717
06:19
Jonathan, with a whole lot of plastic straws.
116
363702
4190
06:23
He put a pile on top of each of us, and he said,
117
367892
2669
06:26
"Start threading them together."
118
370561
2752
06:29
Well, there wasn't much else to do in the spinal ward, so we did.
119
373313
3301
06:32
And when we'd finished, he went around silently
120
376614
3641
06:36
and he joined all of the straws up
121
380255
2485
06:38
till it looped around the whole ward, and then he said,
122
382740
3573
06:42
"Okay, everybody, hold on to your straws."
123
386313
3932
06:46
And we did. And he said, "Right. Now we're all connected."
124
390245
6975
06:53
And as we held on, and we breathed as one,
125
397220
5460
06:58
we knew we weren't on this journey alone.
126
402680
4353
07:02
And even lying paralyzed in the spinal ward,
127
407033
4504
07:07
there were moments of incredible depth and richness,
128
411537
3222
07:10
of authenticity and connection
129
414759
3252
07:13
that I had never experienced before.
130
418011
4344
07:18
And each of us knew that when we left the spinal ward
131
422355
4481
07:22
we would never be the same.
132
426836
4819
07:27
After six months, it was time to go home.
133
431655
4162
07:31
I remember Dad pushing me outside in my wheelchair,
134
435817
3466
07:35
wrapped in a plaster body cast,
135
439283
2861
07:38
and feeling the sun on my face for the first time.
136
442144
2971
07:41
I soaked it up and I thought,
137
445115
1938
07:42
how could I ever have taken this for granted?
138
447053
3874
07:46
I felt so incredibly grateful for my life.
139
450927
4277
07:51
But before I left the hospital, the head nurse
140
455204
1995
07:53
had said to me, "Janine, I want you to be ready,
141
457199
2219
07:55
because when you get home, something's going to happen."
142
459418
2735
07:58
And I said, "What?" And she said,
143
462153
1892
07:59
"You're going to get depressed."
144
464045
2106
08:02
And I said, "Not me, not Janine the Machine,"
145
466151
2715
08:04
which was my nickname.
146
468866
2180
08:06
She said, "You are, because, see, it happens to everyone.
147
471046
2866
08:09
In the spinal ward, that's normal.
148
473912
2747
08:12
You're in a wheelchair. That's normal.
149
476659
1313
08:13
But you're going to get home and realize
150
477972
2170
08:16
how different life is."
151
480142
2096
08:18
And I got home and something happened.
152
482238
3833
08:24
I realized Sister Sam was right.
153
488641
3019
08:27
I did get depressed.
154
491660
2894
08:30
I was in my wheelchair. I had no feeling from the waist down,
155
494554
3371
08:33
attached to a catheter bottle. I couldn't walk.
156
497925
3569
08:37
I'd lost so much weight in the hospital
157
501494
2133
08:39
I now weighed about 80 pounds.
158
503627
3762
08:43
And I wanted to give up.
159
507389
2521
08:45
All I wanted to do was put my running shoes on and run out the door.
160
509910
3430
08:49
I wanted my old life back. I wanted my body back.
161
513340
3387
08:52
And I can remember Mom sitting on the end of my bed,
162
516727
2520
08:55
and saying, "I wonder if life will ever be good again."
163
519247
3893
08:59
And I thought, "How could it? Because I've lost everything
164
523140
4296
09:03
that I valued, everything that I'd worked towards.
165
527436
4200
09:07
Gone."
166
531636
2877
09:10
And the question I asked was, "Why me? Why me?"
167
534513
5024
09:15
And then I remembered my friends
168
539537
3899
09:19
that were still in the spinal ward,
169
543436
2403
09:21
particularly Maria.
170
545839
1644
09:23
Maria was in a car accident, and she woke up
171
547483
2110
09:25
on her 16th birthday to the news that she was a complete quadriplegic,
172
549593
4847
09:30
had no movement from the neck down,
173
554440
2293
09:32
had damage to her vocal chords, and she couldn't talk.
174
556733
3689
09:36
They told me, "We're going to move you next to her
175
560422
2274
09:38
because we think it will be good for her."
176
562696
2295
09:40
I was worried. I didn't know how I'd react
177
564991
3330
09:44
to being next to her.
178
568321
1949
09:46
I knew it would be challenging, but it was actually a blessing,
179
570270
3924
09:50
because Maria always smiled.
180
574194
5242
09:55
She was always happy, and even when she began to talk again,
181
579436
4422
09:59
albeit difficult to understand, she never complained, not once.
182
583858
6077
10:05
And I wondered how had she ever found that level of acceptance.
183
589935
5823
10:11
And I realized that this wasn't just my life.
184
595758
4719
10:16
It was life itself. I realized that this wasn't just my pain.
185
600477
4305
10:20
It was everybody's pain. And then I knew, just like before,
186
604782
5143
10:25
that I had a choice. I could keep fighting this
187
609925
4332
10:30
or I could let go and accept not only my body
188
614257
5021
10:35
but the circumstances of my life.
189
619278
3383
10:38
And then I stopped asking, "Why me?"
190
622661
3815
10:42
And I started to ask, "Why not me?"
191
626476
2953
10:45
And then I thought to myself, maybe being at rock bottom
192
629429
4127
10:49
is actually the perfect place to start.
193
633556
6891
10:56
I had never before thought of myself as a creative person.
194
640447
3992
11:00
I was an athlete. My body was a machine.
195
644439
3664
11:04
But now I was about to embark on the most creative project
196
648103
4691
11:08
that any of us could ever do:
197
652794
1935
11:10
that of rebuilding a life.
198
654729
2720
11:13
And even though I had absolutely no idea
199
657449
2559
11:15
what I was going to do, in that uncertainty
200
660008
2855
11:18
came a sense of freedom.
201
662863
2444
11:21
I was no longer tied to a set path.
202
665307
2754
11:23
I was free to explore life's infinite possibilities.
203
668061
6122
11:30
And that realization was about to change my life.
204
674183
6220
11:36
Sitting at home in my wheelchair and my plaster body cast,
205
680403
4804
11:41
an airplane flew overhead, and I looked up,
206
685207
3889
11:44
and I thought to myself, "That's it!
207
689096
2907
11:47
If I can't walk, then I might as well fly."
208
692003
4363
11:52
I said, "Mom, I'm going to learn how to fly."
209
696366
2636
11:54
She said, "That's nice, dear." (Laughter)
210
699002
4140
11:59
I said, "Pass me the yellow pages."
211
703142
1931
12:00
She passed me the phone book, I rang up the flying school,
212
705073
2342
12:03
I made a booking, said I'd like to make a booking to come out for a flight.
213
707415
2962
12:06
They said, "You know, when do you want to come out?"
214
710377
2631
12:08
I said, "Well, I have to get a friend to drive me out
215
713008
1853
12:10
because I can't drive. Sort of can't walk either.
216
714861
3309
12:14
Is that a problem?"
217
718170
990
12:15
I made a booking, and weeks later my friend Chris
218
719160
2097
12:17
and my mom drove me out to the airport,
219
721257
1777
12:18
all 80 pounds of me covered in a plaster body cast
220
723034
2693
12:21
in a baggy pair of overalls. (Laughter)
221
725727
3036
12:24
I can tell you, I did not look like the ideal candidate
222
728763
2798
12:27
to get a pilot's license. (Laughter)
223
731561
2790
12:30
I'm holding on to the counter because I can't stand.
224
734351
2366
12:32
I said, "Hi, I'm here for a flying lesson."
225
736717
1814
12:34
And they took one look and ran out the back to draw short straws.
226
738531
3266
12:37
"You get her.""No, no, you take her."
227
741797
3918
12:41
Finally this guy comes out. He goes,
228
745715
1330
12:42
"Hi, I'm Andrew, and I'm going to take you flying."
229
747045
1783
12:44
I go, "Great." And so they drive me down,
230
748828
1628
12:46
they get me out on the tarmac,
231
750456
1328
12:47
and there was this red, white and blue airplane.
232
751784
1758
12:49
It was beautiful. They lifted me into the cockpit.
233
753542
3334
12:52
They had to slide me up on the wing, put me in the cockpit.
234
756876
2598
12:55
They sat me down. There are buttons and dials everywhere.
235
759474
2273
12:57
I'm going, "Wow, how do you ever know what all these buttons and dials do?"
236
761747
3533
13:01
Andrew the instructor got in the front, started the airplane up.
237
765280
2543
13:03
He said, "Would you like to have a go at taxiing?"
238
767823
2062
13:05
That's when you use your feet to control the rudder pedals
239
769885
2201
13:07
to control the airplane on the ground.
240
772086
2025
13:10
I said, "No, I can't use my legs."
241
774111
2347
13:12
He went, "Oh."
242
776458
1212
13:13
I said, "But I can use my hands," and he said, "Okay."
243
777670
2807
13:16
So he got over to the runway, and he applied the power.
244
780477
3029
13:19
And as we took off down the runway,
245
783506
2809
13:22
and the wheels lifted up off the tarmac, and we became airborne,
246
786315
4010
13:26
I had the most incredible sense of freedom.
247
790325
5031
13:31
And Andrew said to me,
248
795356
2466
13:33
as we got over the training area,
249
797822
2581
13:36
"You see that mountain over there?"
250
800403
2476
13:38
And I said, "Yeah."
251
802879
1533
13:40
And he said, "Well, you take the controls, and you fly towards that mountain."
252
804412
4756
13:45
And as I looked up, I realized
253
809168
2482
13:47
that he was pointing towards the Blue Mountains
254
811650
3223
13:50
where the journey had begun.
255
814873
2980
13:53
And I took the controls, and I was flying.
256
817853
4585
13:58
And I was a long, long way from that spinal ward,
257
822438
3053
14:01
and I knew right then that I was going to be a pilot.
258
825491
4142
14:05
Didn't know how on Earth I'd ever pass a medical.
259
829633
3870
14:09
But I'd worry about that later, because right now I had a dream.
260
833503
3059
14:12
So I went home, I got a training diary out, and I had a plan.
261
836562
4224
14:16
And I practiced my walking as much as I could,
262
840786
2830
14:19
and I went from the point of two people holding me up
263
843616
3134
14:22
to one person holding me up
264
846750
2875
14:25
to the point where I could walk around the furniture
265
849625
1902
14:27
as long as it wasn't too far apart.
266
851527
2733
14:30
And then I made great progression to the point
267
854260
2192
14:32
where I could walk around the house, holding onto the walls,
268
856452
2232
14:34
like this, and Mom said she was forever following me,
269
858684
3590
14:38
wiping off my fingerprints. (Laughter)
270
862274
3653
14:41
But at least she always knew where I was.
271
865927
4679
14:46
So while the doctors continued to operate
272
870606
2386
14:48
and put my body back together again,
273
872992
2037
14:50
I went on with my theory study, and then eventually,
274
875029
3655
14:54
and amazingly, I passed my pilot's medical,
275
878684
3435
14:58
and that was my green light to fly.
276
882119
2532
15:00
And I spent every moment I could out at that flying school,
277
884651
2664
15:03
way out of my comfort zone,
278
887315
1538
15:04
all these young guys that wanted to be Qantas pilots,
279
888853
2402
15:07
you know, and little old hop-along me in first my plaster cast,
280
891255
3487
15:10
and then my steel brace, my baggy overalls,
281
894742
2701
15:13
my bag of medication and catheters and my limp,
282
897443
3566
15:16
and they used to look at me and think,
283
901009
1261
15:18
"Oh, who is she kidding? She's never going to be able to do this."
284
902270
3371
15:21
And sometimes I thought that too.
285
905641
1903
15:23
But that didn't matter, because now there was something inside that burned
286
907544
4500
15:27
that far outweighed my injuries.
287
912044
4387
15:32
And little goals kept me going along the way,
288
916431
1965
15:34
and eventually I got my private pilot's license,
289
918396
3726
15:38
and then I learned to navigate, and I flew my friends around Australia.
290
922122
5230
15:43
And then I learned to fly an airplane with two engines
291
927352
2828
15:46
and I got my twin engine rating.
292
930180
2566
15:48
And then I learned to fly in bad weather as well as fine weather
293
932746
2945
15:51
and got my instrument rating.
294
935691
2465
15:54
And then I got my commercial pilot's license.
295
938156
3104
15:57
And then I got my instructor rating.
296
941260
2723
15:59
And then I found myself back at that same school
297
943983
3199
16:03
where I'd gone for that very first flight,
298
947182
2248
16:05
teaching other people how to fly,
299
949430
3146
16:08
just under 18 months after I'd left the spinal ward.
300
952576
4142
16:12
(Applause)
301
956718
11554
16:24
And then I thought, "Why stop there?
302
968272
2151
16:26
Why not learn to fly upside down?"
303
970423
3271
16:29
And I did, and I learned to fly upside down
304
973694
2654
16:32
and became an aerobatics flying instructor.
305
976348
4058
16:36
And Mom and Dad? Never been up.
306
980406
6183
16:42
But then I knew for certain that although my body might be limited,
307
986589
5715
16:48
it was my spirit that was unstoppable.
308
992304
5162
16:53
The philosopher Lao Tzu once said,
309
997466
3381
16:56
"When you let go of what you are,
310
1000847
2919
16:59
you become what you might be."
311
1003766
3431
17:03
I now know that it wasn't until I let go of who I thought I was
312
1007197
4905
17:08
that I was able to create a completely new life.
313
1012102
4201
17:12
It wasn't until I let go of the life I thought I should have
314
1016303
4637
17:16
that I was able to embrace the life that was waiting for me.
315
1020940
4784
17:21
I now know that my real strength
316
1025724
3221
17:24
never came from my body,
317
1028945
3217
17:28
and although my physical capabilities have changed dramatically,
318
1032162
5007
17:33
who I am is unchanged.
319
1037169
3783
17:36
The pilot light inside of me was still a light,
320
1040952
4339
17:41
just as it is in each and every one of us.
321
1045291
4697
17:45
I know that I'm not my body,
322
1049988
3223
17:49
and I also know that you're not yours.
323
1053211
3448
17:52
And then it no longer matters what you look like,
324
1056659
4276
17:56
where you come from, or what you do for a living.
325
1060935
4318
18:01
All that matters is that we continue to fan the flame of humanity
326
1065253
5447
18:06
by living our lives as the ultimate creative expression
327
1070700
4052
18:10
of who we really are,
328
1074752
3766
18:14
because we are all connected
329
1078518
2806
18:17
by millions and millions of straws,
330
1081324
4147
18:21
and it's time to join those up
331
1085471
2921
18:24
and to hang on.
332
1088392
1807
18:26
And if we are to move towards our collective bliss,
333
1090199
4364
18:30
it's time we shed our focus on the physical
334
1094563
2723
18:33
and instead embrace the virtues of the heart.
335
1097286
3835
18:37
So raise your straws if you'll join me.
336
1101121
4079
18:41
Thank you. (Applause)
337
1105200
6279
18:47
Thank you.
338
1111479
4970
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Janine Shepherd - PilotAspiring Olympic skier Janine Shepherd was nearly killed when she was hit by a truck during a training bike ride. Paralysed and immobile for six months, she was given a grim picture for recovery. But not only did she teach herself to walk again— she learned to fly.
Why you should listen
Janine Shepherd is a “walking paraplegic.” Defying her disability, she has become a commercial pilot and aerobatics instructor, motivational speaker, best-selling author, and mother of three. A champion cross-country skier in training for the Calgary Olympics, Janine’s life changed forever when she was hit by a truck during a bicycle ride in the Blue Mountains of Australia. Doctors did not expect her to survive.
After six months in hospital—nearly all of it on her back—Janine focused intently on healing both her broken body and crushed morale. A turning point in her recovery came when a small plane flying overhead gave her the most improbable idea. “That’s it!” she exclaimed from her wheelchair. “If I can’t walk, I’ll fly.”
Still encased in a full body cast, Janine had to be lifted into an aircraft for her introductory flight lesson. But within a year she had defied the odds and earned her private pilot’s license. Her talent and skill as a pilot earned Janine a commercial pilot license and ultimately, her flying instructor’s rating. Then she decided to learn to fly upside down, and finally, to teach acrobatic flight to other pilots.
Janine is an ambassador for Spinal Cure Australia and Red Bull Wings For Life, and is committed to helping find a cure for spinal cord injury in the near future. She was awarded the Order of Australia, the nation’s highest honor. She is a contributor to Deepak Chopra’s workshops, and has been featured on 60 Minutes and This Is Your Life.
In the meantime, she seeks to inspire those coping with physical disability and life challenges. Janine is the author of six books, including the newly released memoir Defiant: A Broken Body Is Not a Broken Person. She regularly delivers inspirational keynotes to audiences of thousands in countries around the world.
Janine Shepherd | Speaker | TED.com