Rick Hansen

Rick hansen beside the big wall of China (images.ctv.ca ())

Rick Hansen was a normal 15 year old boy when he got into a horrible, tragic car accident that paralyzed him from the waist down because of a spinal cord injury. Rick Hansen did extraordinary things to help people with spinal cord injuries.

Rick Hansen was born August 26 1957 at Port Alberni, British Columbia. He went to University of British Columbia.  When he was young, he loved to go on fishing trips with his grandfather and father.   Also, he was in a couple of sports like wheel chair basketball and volleyball.  Rick Hansen has a wife named Amanda Reid and he has 3 daughters named Emma, Alana, and Rebecca. 

This picture is Rick Hansen on world wide ride (Rick Hansen Foundation ())

Terry Fox, the athlete who ran through Canada to raise money for cancer research, inspired Rick Hansen. Rick Hansen wanted to ride his wheelchair all over the world to raise awareness for people with spinal cord injuries. He started his ride in Oak Ridge Mall in Vancouver Canada on March 21, 1985. He rode over 40,000 kilometers during his Man in Motion tour. He went to 34 countries and crossed Canada. It took Rick Hansen 26 months to complete his tour. He raised over 26 million dollars for spinal cord research. He has a foundation that helps people with finding help if they have an injury.

Rick Hansen displays many positive character traits. He shows optimism because he believes that he can raise money for spinal cord injuries by going around the world for spinal cord research. My hero also has respect because he needs to respect others when he travels to other places, so he respects different cultures and religions. My hero has responsibility because he has to care for himself and his wheel chair when he is traveling. Those are some of the character traits Rick Hansen shows.

Rick Hansen inspires me to learn that you should never give up when something puts you down. At first I thought that Rick Hansen went around the world for fun, but now I know that he went around for spinal cord research. Another thing that I realized is that there is such thing as spinal cord research.

Thank you for reading my hero story.  I hope you learned a bit about Rick Hansen.  THANK YOU!  I hope you enjoy the other hero stories, too.