Paralympic snowboarder Lisa DeJong wrote a children’s book

Article content

Lisa DeJong’s snowboarding career took her from Biggar in flatland Saskatchewan to an international stage in Beijing, where she won a silver medal in snowboard cross at the 2022 Winter Paralympics.

Article content

Article content

It was Canada’s first Paralympic medal in snowboarding. DeJong retired from competing soon afterwards, planning to support the Para snowboarding program as an administrator and teach adaptive lessons while also being a mom to two young daughters and writing a children’s book called “Lucy’s Fancy Leg.”

Article content

“I’m on the athletes’ council now, supporting the team from the other side of the table,” said DeJong, who stopped in Regina last week to read her book to schoolchildren at the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame and Museum.

“There’s never a good time to dedicate your life to training and competing at that level, so there was always kind of a start and an end to it, especially with a young family.”

DeJong, her husband and young daughters (ages seven and nine) live in Sherwood Park, Alta., where they ride their horses and 2-3 times weekly ski on several groomed hills surrounding Edmonton. The kids ski; mom boards.

When she was growing up in Saskatchewan, DeJong was part of a “skiing family” who frequented Stranraer Ski Hill, also known as “Twin Towers” before it closed 15 years ago. Despite having the lower part of her left leg amputated at age three because it was missing growth plates and bones, DeJong loved becoming a snowboarder and eventually pursued her passion onto Canada’s team at age 30. In addition to her second- and eighth-place finishes at the 2022 Paralympics, DeJong also won gold in the team event at that year’s world championships in Switzerland, plus silver in snowboard cross and banked slalom.

Article content

Article content

Inspired by reading with her daughters, DeJong decided to write a “light-hearted and humourous take on growing up as an amputee” because there weren’t many books like that available. So she self-published through FriesenPress in Manitoba, working closely during her two-year project with Pia Reyes to get the illustrations just right.

One of the parts that draws the most laughs from her audiences, DeJong said, is when Lucy kicks a soccer ball and her self-designed prosthetic leg comes flying off.

“Lucy’s an inventor,” said DeJong, who said the story was mildly autobiographical except she never designed her own expensive prosthetics. “I do a lot of school tours and it’s a great introduction to all the different adaptive equipment that we as amputees use.

“I’ll bring my book in and I’ll bring a bunch of my old legs and the kids can pass them around. It’s a really great visual. Some kids are a little nervous and apprehensive about the presentation, and by the end you have all these kids running around, trying to put these legs on.”

DeJong is also a representative for War Amps, which tries to help amputees and non-amputees become comfortable with the subject. That’s partly why the hall brought her for a visit, timed appropriately to coincide with “Grind, a street-style snowboarding” event held as part of Frost Festival during this past weekend in downtown Regina.

Article content

The hall occasionally brings in authors or other guest speakers, including well-known local runner Ted Jaleta and Bill Brownridge. Jaleta wrote “Never Give Up” and Brownridge wrote “A Winter’s Warmth: Celebrating the Joys of Winter Sports.”

“Canadian Sports Centre Saskatchewan were happy to partner with us for getting Lisa involved,” said Matthew Gourlie, communications coordinator for the SSHF. “With there being snowboarding at Frost this year it just seemed like a perfect fit to be able to … engage another Saskatchewan author with a sports background.”

Free copies of “Lucy’s Fancy Leg” are available for hall visitors under 10 until the end of March.

The Regina Leader-Post has created an Afternoon Headlines newsletter that can be delivered daily to your inbox so you are up to date with the most vital news of the day. Click here to subscribe.

With some online platforms blocking access to the journalism upon which you depend, our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark leaderpost.com and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed. Click here to subscribe.

Article content