At 16, Mackay’s Paul Schembri was six months into a diesel mechanic apprenticeship and was enjoying the carefree life of a teenager.
However, just weeks before his 17th birthday, a weekly motorbike ride with his cousins led to Paul sustaining a spinal cord injury after he fell from his bike.
“I think I fell over the handlebars, but I don’t remember anything so I can’t say for sure,” Paul said.
In the lead-up to Spinal Injuries Awareness Week (9-15 September), Paul shares how he spent just under five months in hospital recovering and learning to adjust to life as a person with paraplegia.
“It was always a matter of what can I do now, rather than, what can’t I do?” Paul said.
Recently celebrating his 19th birthday, Paul’s “just have a go” attitude and enthusiasm for trying anything has seen him celebrate the first anniversary of his own small business, Para Xcavations.
“I’ve got a three-tonne excavator and I’ve been doing some regular work locally; the business is growing steadily,” he said.
“When I was in the Spinal Injuries Unit (in Brisbane) there was an excavator working outside my window, which I would watch for hours.”
“I realised that once the guys were in the cab of the excavator they were using hand controls to operate it.
“I have T2 paraplegia so I’ve still got the full use of my hands, so I thought I could give it a go.”
Paul fortunately had an uncle he could call on, who has a 20-tonne excavator, to practice transferring in and out of, which he was doing via a pallet on a forklift.
“Once I found I could operate the machine with no real problems, I bought my current excavator and with the help of a couple of family members, we built a simple frame that swings independently from the excavator’s roll frame. I attached a winch with a lifting bar and I am able to harness myself up and lift myself into the operator’s seat without assistance,” Paul said.
“It only takes me about three minutes and has given me the ability to create my own business.”
Paul also restores antique machinery, with a 1950 Caterpillar crawler his current personal project, while equipment that he has restored for other people is a good sideline to his excavation business.
Spinal Injuries Association Peer Support Coordinator Col Mackereth, from Townsville, initially met Paul in the Spinal Injuries Unit.
“Paul’s a great, positive sort of fellow. From the outset he was never going to let his spinal cord injury get in the way of achieving what he wanted,” Col said.
As a Peer Support Coordinator, Col, who sustained his spinal cord injury more than 20 years ago, provides practical, one-on-one support to both clients such as Paul, and their families.
“My role is to help people move forward, live in the now and look towards the future,” Col said.
“It never ceases to amaze me the way people with a spinal cord injury like Paul can think outside the square and find a way of doing things that initially seemed impossible.”
Comments on this entry are closed.