He No Longer Walks, but He Sure Can Soar

Sometimes, there comes upon the world stage that unusual soul who exemplifies the strength to overcome adversity.

Sam Sullivan, the mayor of Vancouver, Canada, is one such person. He broke his neck in a skiing accident when he was 19. The accident left him a quadriplegic, with limited use of his hands. He spent years wallowing in self-pity. He had, he said, vivid dreams of what it would be like to put a gun to his head.

Then, seven years after the accident, he abruptly came to terms with what he calls “this shell of a body.” He said he thought to himself, “If I had a new life to live, what would I do with it?”

Vancouver is the host city of the 2010 Winter Games, so Sunday night, here at the closing ceremony of the 2006 Games and before a worldwide television audience, Sergio Chiamparino, the mayor of Turin, will hand the Olympic flag over to Sullivan.

The left side of Sullivan’s wheelchair has been fitted with a basket and the 16-foot flag will be put in the basket. Sullivan intends to spin the chair so as to make the flag flutter.

“Don’t try this at home,” he quipped.

He also said, again in fun, “Some have questioned the wisdom of Vancouver sending its worst skier to Torino.”

Sullivan, now 46, said the accident occurred Jan. 19, 1979, on Cypress Mountain, near Vancouver. He tried to do an old trick, skiing between a friend’s outstretched legs.

“I heard the crack and I knew exactly what had happened,” Sullivan said. “It felt like my body was expanding into the size of the universe -- and then there was this great vortex as my body collapsed.... “

After an initial intrigue at his predicament, he said, he sank into depression.

It wasn’t until after he had considered -- and, finally, rejected -- suicide that he decided to live with what he had.

The very next morning, he recalled, his niece, Tanja, then 2 or 3, came to visit. She was wearing a pink outfit and, with her arms outstretched, ran to him and said, “Uncle Sam!”

“I said, ‘My God, I feel like I am one of the wealthiest men in the world.... How could I be a quadriplegic and feel so lucky, so rich, at the expression of humanity?’

“I already had been alive for just this one day and already had received such blessings. I wondered, ‘What else could there be out there?’ From that day on, every day has been an exploration of the new joys and opportunities that were available to me.”

Over the last 19 years, among other things, Sullivan has founded the Tetra Society of North America, which matches volunteer engineers with disabled people seeking to live independently. He invented a sailboat that quadriplegics can operate by blowing into a straw. He helped develop a wheeled vehicle for hiking and camping trips.

In 1987, Sullivan earned his college degree. He still studies math, physics and other languages. He speaks and reads Cantonese.

He put together a rock band of disabled musicians: Spinal Chord.

He got into politics. He ran for city council and won. Last year, he ran for mayor -- and won.

Sullivan’s term runs through 2009. He could seek a second term that would enable him to remain as mayor when the Games descend on Vancouver in 2010.

In the meantime, there is the matter of the Olympic flag. A momentous occasion, he understands -- for himself and for all those who will be watching.

“My goal,” he said with a wry smile, “is to do the thing without messing up. By just doing that, I will have accomplished a whole lot.”