McQuillan thankful for support

Ed McQuillan speaks while Rick Hansen looks on.

Milford Station- It was amid cheers that Ed McQuillan wheeled into the Dome in Lantz on Sept 18. His face sported a wide smile and a look of mild surprise, at the number waiting for him to enter. All had formed an aisle for him to wheel down to the waiting podium and the principal man in motion himself Rick Hansen.
The announcer talked about McQuillan’s determination and perseverance following his skiing accident in March of 2010, how he was determined to be active and managing to ski again and how this positive outlook was an inspiration to all.
McQuillan was chosen as a medal carrier after his name was put forward by Dave Brown, director of Recreation and Culture with the Municipality, who had been contacted for names to participate in the 25th Anniversary of the Man in Motion Tour. He was the last of 61 people that day to carry the medal a distance of 250 metres, but being last meant he was the one who had the honour of passing it on to Hanson himself.
He had met Hansen the day before during a special invitation event at the Rehabilitation Centre in Halifax. He says there were a number of well deserved awards handed out that day, and one to his own former physio therapist who was honoured to have the award presented by her personal hero, Hanson.
McQuillan commented on how personable and kind Hanson is, taking time for individuals and patiently taking time to sign autographs or to spend a few moments chatting. When McQuillan asked him how he manages he was told that it was the people who give him the energy to carry on.
When asked how it felt when he entered the dome at the end of day celebrations he responded with, “Exciting, an amazing experience, it felt great. I was surprised and pleased by the number of people waiting.”
But the support of family friends and community is not unfamiliar to McQuillan. Following a skiing accident in 2010 where he sustained a spinal cord injury along with 15 broken ribs and puncturing both lungs, he was in the hospital for one month and at the Nova Scotia Rehabilitation Centre for two. His community’s overwhelming support has made the transition to his new life in a wheel chair as easy as possible.
McQuillan was determined to become active once more, figuring he could sit in a corner and cry or get out and get active again, which he did with extreme success. He says six months to the day following his accident he was able to participate in his family’s 23rd annual golf tournament in Digby by using a para- golfer. One year after the accident, he and wife Sandra and daughters Andrea and Marlee, were able to go skiing at Sunday River in Maine, a trip they had been intending to go on before the accident.
The Anniversary Tour has become the Man in Motion tour carried out in a relay by 7000 medal bearers across Canada, people chosen for the difference they make in the lives of others. While Hansen will make several appearances, it is the medal bearers who will complete the tour. The medal they carry was specially minted by the Canadian Mint out of sterling silver and is 85 millimetres in diameter and weighs 400 grams. On one side it is engraved with a palm print of an actual cycling glove that Hansen wore in his Man In Motion Tour, while on the other intersecting ribbons signifying movement, excitement and celebration with the bilingual motto of the 25th Anniversary, “Many in Motion-Unis En Mouvement” printed on one.
Each participant received a smaller version of the medal, and one was presented to Warden Patterson for the Municipality of East Hants.
anitabenedict@enfieldweeklypress.com