A skydiving accident left him a double amputee. Now he’s a snowboarding champion

A life-long lover of all things athletic, it was skydiving that really captivated Tyler Turner.

Until an accident in 2017.

“Something messed up. No one saw and I don’t remember. I hit the ground going extremely fast,” Turner told Global’s This is BC.

He lost both legs below the knees, leaving him with an uncertain future.

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“I didn’t know if I would ever find joy again, or ever be happy living as a single amputee let alone, later to find out, a double amputee,” he said.

But his road to recovery has come with more excitement than he could have ever imagined. Motivated in large part by those thrills of so many of his favourite sports.

”It took a long time, and a lot of just grinding at the bottom,” Turner said. “When I thought I was at rock bottom I would drop even lower sometimes and I had this mountain in front of me that absolutely looked insurmountable.”

A return to snowboarding became a rallying point that led Turner all the way to the top of the podium in the last Paralympics.

“I knew I could win that medal. But when the moment happened, when I actually crossed that line, it was disbelief and relief, because that’s a lot of time and energy put into that moment,” he said.

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And there was never any doubt he would find the courage to jump out of a plane again.

“When it comes to skydiving I think there was more hesitation from every other person on this planet other than myself,” said Turner.

Now he has taken on motivational speaking, hoping his story will help inspire others, while still looking for new ways to satisfy that insatiable appetite for adventure.

“The craziest opportunities have come because of this accident,” Turner said.

“Who knows what’s going to pop up tomorrow, but I can tell you I’m going to consider it, and I hope I say yes. And I hope it’s the wildest adventure yet.”