Rick Hansen

Rick Hansen (drawing by Anika)

Rick HansenUrban Mixer (Raj Taneja) / CC BY-SA 2.0 via WikimediaHello! My name is Anika. My hero is Rick Hansen! I chose Rick Hansen because he is a an amazing Canadian and proves that, even if you have a disability you can do anything if you put your mind to it! My book is a biography by: Don Quinlan. My book has 72 pages.The book covers his early years (with gaps) to his 25 year anniversary. My book was written in 2013 and published on March 31 in 2013. 2 Facts about the author and 1 fact about Rick Hansen. Don Quinlan is a retired history teacher. Don Quinlan has written or co-written over 30 books. Rick Hansen is 59 years old.

(Drawing by Anika)

Rick Hansen was born on August 26, 1957 in Port Alberni, British Columbia. Rick Hansen moved around a lot as a child. Joan and Marvin Hansen are Rick's parents.Rick was born first out of 4 children. Cindy,  Brade and Christine are Rick's siblings. Rick Hansen went to the University of British Columbia. When Rick was not at school he was interested in sports of all kinds,but his favorite was volleyball. One interesting story about Rick is that he learned how to fish at the age of THREE! Coach Bob was somebody who influences Rick because he inspired him to love sports again. When Rick was growing up he loved sports, in fact his dream was to be a professional volleyball player. Rick Hansen wanted to play sports. Rick was very independent and headstrong and that is what foreshadowed Rick's accident.

 Well what challenged Rick was  a car accident at the age of 15, injuring his spinal cord. Rick was able to channel his negative energy from the car accident into sports. Rick's accident contributed the most to his success because if the accident had never happened the MIMWT would have never happened and the Rick Hansen Foundation would have never been made. One quality Rick Hansen has is that he is very SMART,and he demonstrated this when he started the Rick Hansen Foundation. Rick is DETERMINED and that is a good quality because, if he wasn't, the MIMWT would have never happened. But most of all Rick is BRAVE and he showed that when his accident happened. Rick Hansen had very few limitations except for his car accident which put him in his wheelchair. But after that limitation he built his life back up again.This is a sappy story which means it is a happy story and a sad story. Okay so let's start from the beginning. It all started when Rick and his friends decided to go on a fishing trip. After a while they decided to go home because they were tired. Soon enough the boys had fallen asleep, including the driver, Dun Dun Dun. Lluckily Rick and his friends landed in a dump truck that pulled them to safety. The end.

Here are the awards Rick Hansen has gotten: .the companion order of Canada and Order of British Columbia .Honorary doctor of law degree from Carleton University 2009 .Fourteen Honorary Degrees bestowed . Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II golden jubilee Commemorative medal 2002 . athlete of the century BC wheelchair sports 2000 . University of British Columbia Athletic Hall of Fame .Lou Marsh award/ Canada's outstanding athlete of the Year award co-winner The great one Wayne Gretzky . outstanding athlete of the Year Canadian Wheelchair Sports Association . Manning award four innovators (National) . outstanding young person of the World Junior chamber International Here are some achievements of Rick Hansen. . inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame . star on Canada's Walk of Fame .recipient Of CPA Alberta's Christopher Reeve award . inducted into Canada's sports hall of fame . founded the Rick Hansen Institute . establish the Fraser River sturgeon consideration Society . National partner and Second National access Awareness Week . initiated National access Awareness Week . set world record for longest wheelchair Marathon Guinness Book of Records

(Drawing by Anika)

Learning about Rick Hansen was great. But there was something that surprised me and it is that he had been very very disappointed about his accident. If I got to meet Rick Hansen I would ask him 3 questions number one why did you choose to do the Man in Motion World Tour? Number two Who is your best friend in the whole entire world? number three I know that you met Terry Fox and Wayne Gretzky so I'mma put this into two questions. What was Terry Fox like? Is Wayne Gretzky a nice person? I wouldn't want to be Rick Hanson's child because he is 59 years old and I'm 10 but part of me would because I would have somebody that finally understands me gets the way I feel and loves to play sports. I wonder if Rick Hanson ever danced before his accident? I liked The book I read because it gave you pretty much all the information you needed. but I also didn't like it because only 4 pages About Rick Hansen's early years and, it only tells you where he went to college and that's not even in the early years chapter it doesn't tell me where he went to elementary school, or Junior High, even worse High School. But I did learn Something from the book and it was that Rick Hansen met Wayne Gretzky and Terry Fox great Canadians I would say. but I also learned that their about 1400 spinal cord injuries every year in Canada obviously. Okay so a lesson that Rick Hansen learned is to never sleep on a toolbox and never go in a car without a seat belt. oh and he learned one more thing never drive drunk or with a drunk driver. And this lesson is a good lesson for me because I already have 10 doctors in one room looking at me because I am special. I think others may want to read this book because it is you most of the information except four where he went to school as a child. I'm very happy that I chose this person to learn about because I wanted to do Terry Fox but my mom said that everybody would be doing him well not Everybody did him. After reading this book I consider Rick Hansen as a role model, because He did something did not even Terry Fox could do he ran oh sorry I meant he Wheeled across Canada no no not across Canada Pretty much across the world and that's why Rick Hansen is my hero and a role model thank you for reading.