September 19, 2024

COLLINGWOOD – Despite a serious injury in his late teens that took away his ability to walk, Chris Stoutenburg persevered and adapted.

For this week’s edition of People of Collingwood we spoke with Stoutenburg, 46, events co-ordinator with the Town of Collingwood, retired Paralympian and co-owner of CrossFit Indestri.

A: Admiral Collingwood and then Collingwood Collegiate Institute. I played basketball for the Collingwood Trailblazers, all the way through high school. I played all sports, like track and field, football, golf.

A: I went to the University of Guelph to play football. It was a decision between Western and Guelph; both offered me to play for the football team.

A: I was at a friend’s who was renting a chalet in Blue Mountain. We were out on the balcony and I guess the balcony had been rotting. I leaned up against the railing on the far side and the whole back side of the balcony collapsed.

I don’t remember any of this, but had a surgery where they put rods in my back to stabilize the parts of the spinal cord that we’re still in intact.

The surgeon comes in and he tells me what’s happening. My spinal cord left me in a position where I won’t walk again.

Once they moved me out of critical, I got myself a wheelchair from the hospital and started trying to use that. Most people, I guess, are hard to convince to even get up and move around

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