Do you ever wonder how you’d react in a life-altering, potentially threatening situation?
I find that until we’re confronted with a risk to our bodily autonomy or basic functions, it’s easy to take our bodies for granted, and forget about the incredible feats that they help us accomplish on a daily basis. But when the body and mind are forced to adapt, it’s amazing how we can relearn and persevere through extremely difficult situations. This week on the Second Breakfast podcastwe had a chance to chat with Victoria Feige, who shares her story of resilience and adaptation.
At age 18, Victoria’s life was changed forever after a snowboarding fall left her paralyzed her from the waist down. But she didn’t let her accident slow her down. Now a 5x world para surfing champion, Victoria has an incredible attitude and takes life by storm, even from a wheel chair. Play is her wheelhouse, and she’s relearned how to move through the world and remake her passions in a new body. Even while being airlifted to the hospital, she has always had a persistent focus and passion for life.
Here are some snippets of her story:
“It’s kind of a crazy story. It sounds horrendous, but I’ve had a lot of fun along the way. So I grew up able-bodied, Canadian, skiing, snowboarding, telemarking. I’m a bit of a risk taker, and did a whole bunch of different sports. I have two older brothers, who are a bit rough and tumble.
When I was 18, I was snowboarding with a friend on spring break. I love to do big mountain riding, like, trees and shoots but I also love jumping in the park. That day I just sent it in the park at the end of the day, kind of showing off for a photo. And I overshot it, got about 15 feet of air and landed badly. So I have a compression fracture of my L1 vertebrae, which means that I’m essentially I was paralyzed from the waist down.
Then [I had] surgery and then really it’s three months at least of rehab in the hospital, learning how to navigate an environment and a body that you’re not that familiar with.
You have to kind of relearn how to move through the world. But I used whatever skills and resources I had to get me where I wanted to go. So I just transferred my skateboarding skills to wheelchair skills, including the ability to see terrain and perform an ollie. I used to rock climb a little bit, so you can find little handholds in an airplane or a subway station if the elevator breaks. You can find ways to navigate the environment.
Headshot taken by Nigel Wallace Media
yes, I have a disability. Yes, I’m a wheelchair user on land. But One of the things I love about surfing is that if I catch a great wave in the water, have a good takeoff and a sick turn, I did that. there’s no tokenism. There’s no special treatment.
My level of function is like far beyond what they could have expected but I also was kind of a high energy, high achiever before I got injured. Those are the elements that make you who you are. That element of pushing the boundaries is without a doubt why I got injured, but it’s pushing the boundaries and trying to get more is also what made me do so well after my injury.
There’s so much you can do after spinal cord injury. There’s so much that you can achieve and explore and there’s so much life left to live. And yeah, it might look a little different, but the important things of who you are, your friends and family and the things that define you don’t have to change. Unless you want them to change, but itdoesn’t have to determine your whole life.”
At Surf With Amigas, we love inspirational stories of women going out and doing something amazing for themselves and others. We recently met an Amiga named Christine who came on a retreat with a purple shortboard and so much style. She told us about her company Tapa Reef and hooked us up with some samples of the sunscreen removing wipes and shampoos and conditioners made to protect your hair from the ravages of salt and sun.
We tried the products and fell in love! They are all made from natural ingredients. Moisturising aloe, cucumber and fruit extracts quickly and gently remove water resistant and zinc sunscreen. They are paraben and sulphate free. No dyes, petrochemicals, PEGs or artificial fragrances. What’s not to love?
Luckily, she is providing a discount code for amigas! Go check out the products and try something using the code AMIGAS for a great deal!
On to the inspiration portion of the post, check out Christine’s story below:
I have lived on islands my whole life – Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island through grade school, Kwajalein Island in the Marshall Islands for high school, the Barrier Island on the East Coast of Florida during university, a couple of working stints on Manhattan Island, a year working on the Island of Guam in the Marianas and then Australia (the “island continent”) for the majority of my professional career. In between, family holidays were spent in the Hawaiian Islands and later, places like Bali and Fiji. Not surprisingly, I have always been a swimmer and beach lover so when I met my husband, a keen surfer, during university, I was never going to be the type of girlfriend to sit on the beach and take photos.
Surfing quickly became one of my favourite hobbies and a professional career working for an international corporation became the means to travel and finance it. Problem was, in my line of work back then, golf was a respectable pastime to discuss with clients, surfing wasn’t. We even had a “professional” dress code and showing up to a meeting after an early morning session with traces of zinc on my face or with my hair trashed from being in the water all weekend wasn’t going to play well on my performance review. In addition, with two nights training in the pool turning my blond highlights green, I was constantly on the lookout for products to simplify the transition from sport to work.
Of course these days, surfing is much more mainstream but then again so is Instagram and Snapchat. I was constantly meeting people who love their action sports but still want to maintain their appearance (no shame in that) and so the concept of “Live Big, Look Good” came about.
Part of my job was working in mergers and acquisitions and with startup companies. I have always admired and envied entrepreneurs who were able to turn their passion into a lifestyle. I realized I wasn’t the only one with these issues and decided to draw on my background to see if I could start a company to develop the types products I was always looking for but couldn’t find.
It was harder than I thought, but eventually I was able to find a great group of people – a cosmetic chemist, manufacturer, legal advisor, logistic specialist and a couple of brand ambassadors – who also love water sports, care about the environment and were willing to help pull this all together. Two years in, it is still a hard slog but growing and it has definitely been a fun learning process!
If you’re needing to stock up before your next retreat, Christine has offered a great travel pack. With the AMIGA code, you can get 10% off and she will include some free sunscreen remover for your next SWA trip. Click here!
This wave in Africa is a bucket list destination for me. It’s super remote, cold, sharky, but a crazy long crazily perfect tube ride. I click anytime I see a video clip of this spot and this is the first time i’ve ever seen a female surfer tackle it. I do wish there was a bit more surfing a bit less of the other stuff, but it’s still worth a watch.
We aim to keep you entertained, inspired, and fired up to go on adventures. When I came across this rad video of a couple of friends of mine who journeyed up the coast, finding surf and adventure in cold water, I knew I had to share it. Even though I prefer the tropics, this video makes me almost want to put on a wetsuit, load up a van, and drive North! Enjoy!
At Surf With Amigas, we love inspirational stories of women going out and doing something amazing for themselves and others. We recently met an Amiga named Christine who came on a retreat with a purple shortboard and so much style. She told us about her company 
