Summary: “I can’t believe I just survived all of that, and now I am going to drown, literally inches from life….The only thing I thought about at that moment was that I can’t die because… my kids need me, you know.” - Lonnie Bissonnette The Bucket List Life Podcast #17 - Extreme Para-Athlete Lonnie Bissonnette (https://thebucketlistlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/17-Lonnie-Bissonnette.jpg)Extreme Para-Athlete Lonnie Bissonnette When life throws down the gauntlet and you are given the choice to fight for your life or surrender, what drives you to keep going and overcome any obstacle to survive? What does it mean to be an inspiration to others? Today’s incredibly humble guest on The Bucket List Life Podcast Episode #17 is highly respected, admired by his peers and a true inspiration to many. He is an inspiration because of his ability to overcome the challenges that life has thrown in his path with stubborn drive and an uncommon willingness to go the extra distance to make things happen. Lonnie Bissonnette has been friends with Kenyon in the BASE and skydiving community for well over a decade. Lonnie is an elite extreme athlete from Canada and he has some amazing and, yes, incredibly inspiring stories to share about “the accident” that changed everything and the challenges he has faced and overcome in his remarkable life. Highlights of their conversation: 3:30 Lonnie is currently in Calgary, Alberta, training to build the sport of Para-Bobsledding into the Winter Para-Olympics 2018. 8:00 Lonnie tells us all about growing up as a crazy, adventurous and indestructible kid in St. Catherines, Ontario Canada. 15:30 Lonnie talks about about getting kicked out of his house at the age of 14, being a rebellious teenager and the challenges he faced living homeless on the streets for a couple years. “Everything that happens in your life, that leads you up to adulthood, builds the person you become. And living through all of that really helped cement the “never give up” attitude that you need to just keep putting one step forward, put your head down and keep going.” 23:00 After 1,500 sky dives and 14 years in the sport, Lonnie begins to tell us the most heart stopping and extra-ordinary story of “the Accident” that happened while trying to set a new Canadian record on his 1,100 BASE jump, that changed his life forever. With painful detail, Lonnie shares exactly what happened after his 70mph instantaneous impact with the water and the bottom of the river. 30:30 His thoughts that fuelled his drive to survive while lying 10 feet under water, paralyzed, “The only thing I thought about at that moment was that I can’t die because… my kids need me, you know.” 31:00 After struggling to the surface, without the use of his arms or legs, and taking in a small gasp of air, with what felt like a gallon of water, and sinking back down, completely exhausted, Lonnie thought, “I can’t believe I just survived all of that, and now I am going to drown, literally inches from life.” 37:00 Lonnie talks about the difficult process of accepting the reality that he had suffered a spinal cord injury, he was paralyzed and would be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. 40:15 Lonnie shares with us his amazing inspiration to start jumping again and how his son was the one that initiated his incredible comeback to the sport of skydiving. Exploding with pride, Lonnie jumped out of a plane for the first time since the accident, for his son’s first skydive. “As we left the airplane and front flipped out, I looked over at my son and he had his tongue sticking out and he’s giving me the thumbs up yelling, Yeeeew! At that moment all of my fears and doubts where gone. He’s fine, he’s gonna be great!” 46:15 Lonnie talks about his first BASE jump back after “the accident”. “This is not something I want to do, this is something I need to do. I need for myself to do at least one more BASE jump, to prove to myself that the sport didn’t beat me.”
