Running
This wheelchair athlete is revolutionising out-patient rehabilitation in SA
In 2012, a tragic gymnastics accident left Brandon Beack with a complete spinal cord injury. He refused to give up. This is the inspirational story of his own rehab and how he's now giving back.
In 2012, a tragic gymnastics accident left Brandon Beack with a complete spinal cord injury and a quadriplegic. Through determination and hard work, he has gained back far more mobility than South African doctors ever believed he would. He also heads up the Walking With Brandon Foundation, a foundation that offers outpatient rehabilitation at an affordable rate to people with disabilities
“I had been training gymnastics since the age of eight and at the time I was busy training for Junior Olympic level,” he says, explaining how he dismounted the parallel bars but missed the safety mats and landed on his head. “I broke my neck at C6 and C7 and I was left paralysed from the chest down and had no function in my hands and partial function in my arms. In an instant, I went from being an elite level gymnast to having almost no function in my body.”
Brandon Beack
© Supplied
Brandon went to in-patient rehab and the doctors told him that he had to accept his life in a wheelchair and that he would be like that for life. “They said I wasn’t going to recover much movement back.” He didn’t listen to a word they said and kept believing otherwise. “I never gave up on improving and recovering further and ended up travelling overseas a year later (after we raised some funds) and experienced an incredible rehabilitation programme at a place called the Shepard Centre,” he says.
Brandon continued on the programme after returning to South Africa and after a few years he started seeing so much improvement that he’s now at a point where he’s gained back almost full function of his hands and arms even has some function on his torso.
“All of this because I never gave up and I put in the time and the hard work after my accident and I didn’t let anyone get me down.”
BIRTH OF A FOUNDATION
On the basis of what he had learnt through his own recovery journey, he launched the Walking With Brandon Foundation in 2015. The foundation offers outpatient rehabilitation at an affordable rate to people with disabilities, neurological conditions and orthopaedic conditions. “We are the first organisation to offer a holistic approach and outpatient therapy in South Africa and we are now subsidised to a point where people can (through an application) get up to 80% of their rehabilitation costs covered.”
According to Brandon, the foundation is based on the premise that advanced outpatient rehabilitation shouldn’t be a privilege, it should be a right and it shouldn’t be determined by the size of your bank balance. “Everyone should have an equal opportunity to improve their quality of life,” he says.
Brandon Beack
© Supplied
The Wings For Life World Run is very close to Brandon’s heart for two reasons: To help find a cure for various spinal injuries, as well as to bring awareness to the fact that in South Africa – aside from the Walking With Brandon Therapy and Beyond Centre in Rondebosch, Cape Town – we don’t have any quality out-patient rehab facilities. “It is a huge problem,” Brandon says. “After in-patient rehabilitation, you are sent home and that is kind of it.”
Brandon Beack
© Supplied
According to Brandon he was offered an hour of rehab a week and coming from a background as a gymnast that was training between two and five hours a day, six days a week it was a huge shock. “Our bodies are not made to be sedentary and I would’ve gone crazy if I could do only one hour a week. On top of that, it is not nearly enough to aid recovery.”
“Everyone should have a place to go to after they have been discharged, a place where they can continue their therapy and training and look at the bigger aspects of life (such as how you’re going to become more independent and integrate yourself into society, get a job, start a family) all of the things to actually live a happy, prosperous life, and don’t feel like you’re a burden on your family stuck at home in bed,” he says.
As part of the holistic approach to rehab, at the centre Brandon personally heads up the Peer Support programme at the centre and believes it is such an integral part of the rehabilitation process.
MORE ABOUT WINGS FOR LIFE WORLD RUN
BACK TO RACING
When Brandon is not working with patients he is training for his sprint wheelchair racing disciplines. “In 2016 I started getting into para-athletics with shot-put and discus, but then in 2018 I got into wheelchair racing,” he says. Brandon specialises in the 100 and 400m sprints and represented South Africa at the 2019 Para-athletics World Champs. He aims to compete in some longer distances in the future and is excited to take part in this year’s Wings For Life World Run.
Inspired to run for those who can't? "The tenth edition of the Wings for Life World Run will take place on Sunday, May 7, 2023. For registration updates, complete global results and unforgettable highlights: visit www.wingsforlifeworldrun.com.
