A very special TASC profile — Pam Fergusson
Pam Fergusson is vice-president of TASC. She brings with her over 25 years of experience working with the buddy system, as well as many community groups. Injured as a young lady Pam learned that she had to adjust quickly in order to get the things that she wanted in life. She is one of those rare people that looks for the positive in a situation and moves on from there. Pam became a T7/8 Paraplegic in 1965. She was later to marry and has raised three very successful boys.
I find the buddying of newly injured spinal patients very worthwhile and I find it inspiring to see how people come to terms with their level of disability during their stay here at the unit.
That is her TASC profile she gave me to put online in our series of profiles of people within TASC and those they help.
Okay, here is my version.
Pam Fergusson is my mum. She brings with he over 40 years experience at being a mum raising three boys, all of those years in wheel chair, and the vast majority of them as a solo parent. We have never known our mum any other way, our mum came with wheels when the other kids at school had mums that walked. That was cool by us and we never thought anything of it. In fact we often brought friends home to play and they would ask “Did you know your mums in a wheelchair”. No we never really noticed.
Mum has always given all of her time helping out others, whether they are other in chairs through her work at TASC and before that visiting the spinal unit regularly to talk and help patients who were struggling to come to terms with their new lives in wheel chairs. But also helping friends, family and a multitude of other people who she didn’t know but she knew needed a hand. That’s what my mum does. She helps others who need a hand, always, always seeing the positive side of life and inspiring those she helps to do the same.
My ride up New Zealand is in part a tribute to my mum. I will ride a couple of thousand kilometres on wheels which is nothing, absolutely nothing compared with how far she has wheeled in 45 years. I wanted to do something to celebrate her 45 years in a chair, and do what she does, inspire others to get out there and do things they thought were impossible for them to do. When I get to a hill and I feel like I just can’t do it, or I get tired 30kms before my destination, or its raining or cold, I think about all the things in life that were too hard for mum to do, but she went and did them anyway. With always the warmest smile you have ever seen, my mum has inspired so many people to face the impossible and just do it anyway. That makes it really easy to keep my pedals turning.
Happy Mothers Day mum. I love you and the impossible things you do.