Tyler grew up in the BC Interior and never left. His injury in 1989 never took away his love of things with engines and soon after his SCI, Tyler was back doing what he loved most—racing.
Through the encouragement and help of a friend he started drag racing and that passion lasted for more than 20 years until the local track closed. Snowmobiles, quad ATVs, side by side ATVs, motorcycles (the 3 wheeled variety) have been a part of life prior and post-injury. He also started playing wheelchair basketball in the early 90s and still plays today. He has played wheelchair curling, wheelchair rugby, wheelchair tennis, adaptive water skiing, archery and handcycling. He currently sits on the board of Kamloops Adaptive Sports.
In addition, Tyler sat as a regional board member for The BC Paraplegic Association and was formerly a Kamloops regional employee. Post-injury, Tyler went to the local university where he studied Computer Aided Drafting and design. He moved forward with this craft and worked for more than 15 years in the architectural field and was also a speaker for the P.A.R.T.Y.(Prevent Alcohol & Risk-Related Trauma in Youth) group during work lunch hours speaking to more than 12,000 jr high school classes. His presentations covered the details of SCI, what happened to him and why and how it affects the day to day. Being able to give back to a community that helped him and maybe help just one person from making a bad choice made the PARTY Program more than worthwhile.
Today, Tyler is part of the Accessible Okanagan board and facilitates SCI BC’s Kamloops coffee group and meetups. He hopes that sharing his experiences with SCI to other peers in the community can make at least a small impact in our amazing province.
