SHOEMAKER ARMED WITH INDOMITABLE WILL
Para-athlete determined to make most of life after losing an arm, almost dying
Daniel Shoemaker never experienced any angst about what he wanted to do with his life upon graduating from high school in Leslieville, Alta.
His grandpa worked in the oilpatch. His dad worked in the oilpatch.
“It’s in my blood,” the 32-yearold told Postmedia this week from Kelowna, where he is representing Canada at the World Para Snowboard Championships. “Working on the rigs was the most rewarding job I ever had. When you’re standing in the pumphouse of a drill rig and the pumps are going, you swear the rig has a heartbeat. I’ll never speak poorly of working on the rigs. I loved it.”
That love endures despite what the rig took from him on Aug. 17, 2006. Working as a derrickhand some 25 storeys in the air, Shoemaker was thrown into a giant wheel that shredded his right arm — from the hand to his shoulder — one five-centimetre chunk at a time.
With the wheel coming toward his head, Shoemaker grabbed a handrail and pulled himself out in two pieces. In shock, he bit off his left glove and plugged the exposed arteries with oil-stained fabric to stem the bleeding. Somehow, he remained conscious throughout the two hours it took for the ambulance to arrive at the work site north of Grand Prairie.
“I was just lying on the rig floor waiting to die, more or less,” he said. “I didn’t really think I was making it out of there alive.”
Forty-five days later, he walked out of the hospital — after flatlining twice — determined to make the most of a life nearly lost.
“I remember this old nurse in the hospital,” he said. “After I came out of the coma, she told me, ‘Either you’re going to make something of your life, or you’re not. Get over it or don’t.’ I just clued in that the only person who was going to stop me was me. I was blessed with another arm so let’s make the best of it.”
Make the best of it he does. Two months ago, Shoemaker represented Canada at the World Adaptive Surfing Championship in La Jolla, Calif. This weekend, he’s ripping down the mountain on behalf of Canada in snowboardcross and banked slalom at the world championships on home snow.
Athletes from about 17 countries are competing at Big White in what serves as a dress rehearsal for the 2018 Winter Paralympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The speed is high. The moves are quick. The terrain features are gnarly.
“For me, my main challenge is counter-balance, because it’s my back arm missing,” said Shoemaker, who crashed in training Thursday but still hopes to compete when it counts. “Starting from the top, when I’m pulling out of the start gates, I don’t get as good of a pull. Also, when you pull out with one arm, you’re off balance and when you’re airborne, it’s also a balance issue.”
Determined to return his life to a normal balance after the incident, Shoemaker went back to work in the oil industry as a field safety coach based in Calgary.
On days off, he escaped to the Rockies where he started big mountain riding and heliboarding as much as possible.
Through word of mouth, Canada Snowboard was alerted to the rising star of the backcountry. When he called to inquire about joining the team, coaches invited him to a tryout in Kelowna.
In 2014, the former derrickhand became Canada’s first national champion in the upper limb category. He went on to finish ninth at the 2015 world championships in Spain.
Looking back, Shoemaker sees his near-death experience as a minor obstacle compared to the one that followed. In 2010, his dad died of a heart attack at age 52 while working on the rigs in Yemen. His body arrived home on his parents’ 25th wedding anniversary.
“It was probably the biggest struggle,” Shoemaker said. “It was far harder to lose him than the arm. But as I always tell people, when life throws you a curveball, the only thing that’s going to stop you is you.”
I was just lying on the rig floor waiting to die, more or less. I didn’t really think I was making it out of there alive.