Courage To Come Back: Physical Rehabilitation award recipient sees injury as her rebirth

Her life was changed in an instant. A devastating car crash robbed her of all feeling below her chest. But the Courage To Come Back award recipient for Physical Rehabilitation has not only survived — she has thrived.

Kristen McBride calls July 27, 2003 her rebirth day, saying that’s when her new life began.

“I don’t remember the crash at all,” she admits. “I just remember being stuck in the car after and it felt like there were weights or something, bricks, maybe that’s a way to explain it, on my legs.”

“You know, it’s a pretty huge, life-altering injury. But life still does go on. There’s a lot still, still to live for, for sure,” Kristen adds.

The extent of her spinal cord injury means she had to learn how to do everything over again.

“I had to learn how to get dressed, I had to learn how to put on make-up, eat, breathe. There we go. I had to learn how to breathe again.”

But learn she did. Not only that, but Kristen also found ways to maintain a small business, stay active, and even give back to her community.

Her greatest worry was not being able to have children.

“I definitely had fear that it would mean that maybe I wouldn’t be able to have kids, one day. That’s one that just plays into my mind.”

Kristen McBride is the 2022 Courage To Come Back award recipient in the Physical Rehabilitation category. She says the day she was in a devastating car crash was the beginning of her new life.

But she did have a child, a baby girl, with her husband in 2019. In fact, Kristen was the first quadriplegic to give birth at Lions Gate Hospital.

“Yeah, just having her, I didn’t even know what I was missing.”

Although she faces each challenge with positivity and grace, she says it’s okay to be sad too.

“I do think we’ve got to feel the feelings and allow ourselves to have the feelings and the mourning — you’re kind of mourning your old life, right?”

Kristen credits her family for where she is today. She says her award is just as much for them as it is for her.

“The reason I was like, ‘Okay, I’ll take it’ is just for other people. Like, other people that have supported me through my journey that is continuing, you know?” she tells CityNews.

Read more Courage To Come Back Award profiles:  

• Medical award recipient wouldn’t take no for an answer

• Addictions award recipient survived residential schools and alcoholism

• Youth award recipient survives cancer to chase big screen dreams

• Mental health award recipient survived the ultimate betrayal

“I don’t like to say my life is busy. I learned when I started my Mary Kay business, one of my mentors, she always said, ‘Don’t say your life is busy, say it’s your life is full.’ So, my life is already very full. Now, it’s very, very full.”

CityNews 1130 is a proud sponsor of the Coast Mental Health Courage To Come Back Awards, which raise critical funds for British Columbians living with mental illness.