An extreme athlete from Canada, Lonnie Bissonnette is one of the most prolific BASE jumpers in the world.
He was paralyzed in a BASE jumping accident after his parachute didn’t deploy and he had an incomplete injury of his C3 vertebrae.
“I told the doctors I will jump again. If I didn’t do that one more jump then the sport would beat me.”
He did his first jump one year after his accident, and hasn’t looked back. He is the first paraplegic to jump off all four objects in B.A.S.E (Buildings, Antennae, Span, Earth) and has logged more than 1100 jumps (at least 26 of which from a wheelchair). Lonnie sees that we all face obstacles, no matter what.
“We all have a passion in life. It doesn’t matter what it is…it doesn’t matter if you’re able-bodied or somebody who’s had an accident…you should pursue that. Don’t give up. Be stubborn. Be pig-headed. Whatever you need to be.”
Apart from Basejumping, Lonnie is also training in bobsledding and once wheeled 840 miles (1400 km) within one month across the Canadian prairies, from Winnipeg to Calgary, in the middle of winter (without any prior training).