Katie received compensation from Coloplast to provide this information. Each person’s situation is unique so your experience may not be the same.
In March 2018, I headed to the French Alps for a life-changing ski trip, one I had been dreaming about for years.
Having grown up in Ontario I lived for winters outside in the snow, the feeling of fresh cold air, and the adrenaline of skiing fast. The hills in Ontario were small, and I always longed for the mountains. After I completed my undergrad in kinesiology, I packed my bags and moved to Revelstoke, British Columbia where my addiction to skiing only grew. I started backcountry skiing and experienced the freedom of touring and the ecstasy of skiing untouched powder.
I was living in Europe for school, and the proximity to the Alps was alluring. My ski trip was during reading week and the conditions were looking very good. I met a friend, and we headed out to the local backcountry near Grenoble for an easy first day. We toured up and enjoyed summit sandwiches before clicking into our skis. Just 2 turns into the descent my life changed forever…
I was caught in an avalanche. When everything stopped, I was only half-buried, my legs covered in snow. I couldn’t move them. I brushed off the snow until I could see my legs. I touched them, but I couldn’t feel anything. Then I felt the excruciating pain in my back.
I was a first-year medical student at the time, and even with my rudimentary medical knowledge, I could tell that I’d damaged my spinal cord. I was paralyzed from the waist down.
When I woke from a 9-hour operation to fuse my vertebrae from T11-L3 in the Grenoble hospital, my mind was filled with a million questions, and doubt filled my mind on what my life would look like with a disability.
I recalled a list of fears that I had written in a journal as a kid. Top of the list: being paralyzed. It was crazy to think that I’d thought I’d rather die than live life like this. I think my fear came from a total lack of understanding of what it meant to have a spinal cord injury. Even as a future healthcare professional, I had had very little exposure to people with disabilities and what I had seen portrayed them as something to be pitied.
I learned a lot about spinal cord injuries during the 3 months I spent in the hospital. I learned –most importantly – that a spinal cord injury was about way more than not being able to move; it was also accompanied by the loss of sensation, sexual function, and bladder & bowel control.
Using a wheelchair was something I readily accepted, but it was far more shocking for me to learn that I needed to self-catheterize the rest of my life.
I was introduced to catheters during my stay at Toronto Lyndhurst Rehab. The nurses there specialized in dealing with patients with spinal cord injuries and were great teachers in the art of self-cathing. I found the numerous steps involved difficult to grasp. Relief came when they introduced me to Coloplast SpeediCath®, a pre-lubricated catheter which eliminated one of those tedious steps.
When it came time to go home from rehab, the staff suggested I try out some samples of products so I could order according to my preference. Among the Coloplast samples I received, the one that stood out to me was the SpeediCath® Compact Eve.
I loved its design. It’s small (tiny enough to fit in my wallet or my pocket), it’s discreet (looks like a tube of mascara), and it’s extremely easy to use.
The Compact Eve became my go-to catheter as I learned to live with my disability. And while I still find self-cathing to be one of the most annoying parts of having an SCI, it hasn’t held me back. I discovered that it’s possible to live a full and happy life with an SCI. I returned to skiing a short 8 months after my accident, eventually racing competitively and even participating in the 2022 Winter Paralympics. I also finished my medical degree and I and now a qualified family doctor living in Squamish, BC. I continue to live the active lifestyle I did before my injury thanks to adaptive sports. Whether I’m skiing, biking, hiking, or camping, I always have a Compact Eve in my pocket and I feel comfortable knowing I can pee with ease.
