By Greater Sudbury Northern Life Reporter Sabrina Byrnes
"When I was little ... I actually believed that people learn
to fly as they grow up," said Minna Mettin-Kekalainen. More
than a year ago, the 42-year-old Sudbury woman made her
childhood dreams a reality when she took on adaptive skydiving.
"I had such a desire to fly, I felt it was something that would
happen. My grandmother said, 'when you get older, you will
realize that people cannot fly'," she said.
"Well, I'm older now and I do fly, so I still don't understand
what she was trying to tell me."
Mettin-Kekalainen had the dream of skydiving since she was five
years old, and she has shown that if one wants something badly
enough, one can make it happen.
"'Can't' is not in my vocabulary," she said. "If you just
eliminate that word out of your vocabulary then you will have a
better life."
The single mother of two teenagers was paralyzed from the waist
down many years ago after a motorcycle accident. The accident
also resulted in an acute brain injury. In 2005, she was
diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, aka Lou
Gehrig's disease), which is a devastating neurodegenerative
disease.
Before her accident, Mettin-Kekalainen was a competitive hockey
player and motocross racer. After her accident, many years
passed before she was reintroduced into sports, which brought
her back into a healthy and active lifestyle, building her
courage and self-esteem.
She's been involved with many sports and also co-founded the
adaptive rowing program at the Sudbury Rowing Club. It was
there her path to skydiving took root.
While at the canoe club, Mettin-Kekalainen met a windsurfing
instructor and asked if he could teach her his sport. He said
he would see what they could do, and she thought this was
someone worth talking to.
"I like to associate myself with people who don't believe in
limitations," she said.
The subject of the Parachute School of Toronto came up in their
conversation and they both had the same thought - they were
going skydiving. The next day they drove down south for what
was Mettin-Kekalainen's first tandem skydiving experience on
Aug. 7, 2007.
"I remember my first thoughts were perhaps a bit morbid, (like)
this is what it must feel like to be dead, ... just peacefully
floating there in this space, and everything is beautiful and
calm and feels like everything is quiet - despite the fact that
if you're actually paying attention to your ears, it's
extremely loud, like a jet engine roaring by," she said,
reminiscing.
"When the parachute opened, my first thought was 'it's done,
it's over' - a slight moment of disappointment until I realized
it was fun to fly the parachute, as well," she added.
Mettin-Kekalainen noted there was great support in the
skydiving community.
"In skydiving, we literally trust our life with complete
strangers," she said,  adding they check each other's
equipment.
"It makes it a sport that we somehow feel close and responsible
for each other in more areas of life than just in the plane and
in the sky," she said.
In April, she went to New Hampshire to experience a wind tunnel
- a simulated free-fall experience in a controlled environment
- to ensure she was able to do a free fall jump, before
actually jumping out of the plane solo.
On April 26, Mettin-Kekalainen experienced her first solo jump.
That day, Mettin-Kekalainen was the first paralyzed person with
no prior skydiving experience, to successfully complete a solo
free fall jump.
"It truly was the most liberating and beautiful feeling I've
ever felt. I completely felt whole, like there was nothing
different about me. Up there, when I'm falling, you would never
know I'm a person that's in a wheelchair. I felt from that
first moment on that I can do all the same things ... if
I  work at it. I really felt 'normal,' I felt like anyone
else," she said, smiling.
Because her range of motion is limited, she needed the balance
of a person on each side of her so she could pull the cord to
release the parachute. Without them, she would flip upside down
when she reached back for the chord.
A developer in South Africa sent her a pair of adaptive pants
to wear while jumping solo. The pants have a strap she pulls,
which raises her legs so she is able to land safely.
"Sporting activities ... are extremely therapeutic, not just
physically, but psychologically and emotionally. People with
disabilities are not included in society to the extent we would
like to be in most areas, but sport is one of those areas that
is more accessible now and it's definitely something that is
very self-satisfying for all people."
Mettin-Kekalainen has a dream of seeing a paralyzed skydiver
jump into the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Paralympic Games.
"I think in 20 years, it won't be so odd anymore that paralyzed
people sky dive. I'm hoping that documenting all this stuff is
not a waste of time but that it will help other people, who
perhaps ... thought they could fly when they grew up."