Superheroes reaching everyday goals
ANYONE who has experienced life-changing, disabling injuries is a superhero.
These are the encouraging and heartening words spoken by Palesa Manaleng, a South African athlete who was involved in a cycling accident that left her paralysed from the waist down.
“Being a superhero doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to have magical powers; just by living each day and reaching your goals, even if it is just one little step, that makes you a superhero. You can do anything you want to do. You can dream just as big as you used to and even bigger,” she said.
Manaleng is one of the many former rehabilitation patients who recently participated in Netcare Rehabilitation Hospital’s annual sports day in Johannesburg for people with disabilities.
Since its inception 17 years ago, the event has become an inspiration and a beacon of hope, which celebrates the possibilities and abilities that can be attained, even after suffering a disability as a result of severe injury or illness.
This year, the sports day was once again attended by hundreds of former and current patients, as well as their families, friends and many supporters.
“When people are disabled due to stroke, amputation, injury or illness, many of them think that they cannot continue living a full life any longer.
“This sports day provides the opportunity for former rehabilitation patients to meet up with new patients in order to demonstrate that you can still live an active and fulfilling life, even after sustaining a disability,” says Manaleng.
In addition to demonstrating that many people with disabilities can live meaningful and active lives, this year’s sports day theme, “Strive for progress, not perfection”, conveys another important message, said Joe Sandows, general manager of Netcare Rehabilitation Hospital.
“To patients who sustain injuries that lead to disability, the feeling of hopelessness and fear can be overwhelming and, many times, the only thing a patient wants is to go back to being their former selves.
“To them this often involves the need to perfectly regain every ability they had before their disability,” says Sandows.
Then, when this goal of perfection seems unreachable, patients tend to become extremely discouraged, often losing hope and forgetting all the progress they have made during their rehabilitation, he adds.
“The message we want to convey is that recovery does not mean that you have managed to perfect old abilities again. It means that you have developed new ones that will enable you to live a full and meaningful life.”
Manaleng is a prime example of what this year’s theme aims to illustrate. She continues to explain how she never let her disability stop her from doing the things she loves most.
“I love to play sports. Before my accident, I used to run 10km races, I enjoyed cycling and swimming, and I even did some weightlifting.
“So, after my accident, I just kept on playing sports, because it is something that continues to make me tremendously happy,” she says.