From a Wheelchair to Walking Death Valley—One Adventurer’s Incredible Comeback
Nadia Boctor of Encompass Films
The sun’s welcome front was advancing, spilling into each successive crack in the dry lake bed until it reached Aaron, still cinched up in his sleeping bag. This was the dawning of day two in the Mojave Desert. Sixteen years ago Aaron had a motocross accident that left him paralyzed, never again would he experience adventure other than from the seat of a power wheelchair. The doctor’s said he had a one-in-a-million chance of ever feeding himself again let alone walking. Yet here he was, eyes squinting away sleep, and a pair of walking boots sitting neatly at the foot of his cot. “I slept so good!” he said stretching. “I only got up once to pee in the night, and I saw an awesome shooting star.”
While the world of adventure is littered with a healthy crop of hairy chests, sinewy calf muscles, and death-defying stunts, there are few out there as death-defying as Aaron, whose most recent tools of adventure include a pair of skinny, questionably functional legs and a stroller to aid balance and carry camping gear for six days on the dry lakes bed of Death Valley.
From a Wheelchair to Walking Death Valley—One Adventurer’s Incredible Comeback
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Photograph courtesy Nadia Boctor
The sun’s welcome front was advancing, spilling into each successive crack in the dry lake bed until it reached Aaron, still cinched up in his sleeping bag. This was the dawning of day two in the Mojave Desert. Sixteen years ago Aaron had a motocross accident that left him paralyzed, never again would he experience adventure other than from the seat of a power wheelchair. The doctor’s said he had a one-in-a-million chance of ever feeding himself again let alone walking. Yet here he was, eyes squinting away sleep, and a pair of walking boots sitting neatly at the foot of his cot. “I slept so good!” he said stretching. “I only got up once to pee in the night, and I saw an awesome shooting star.”
While the world of adventure is littered with a healthy crop of hairy chests, sinewy calf muscles, and death-defying stunts, there are few out there as death-defying as Aaron, whose most recent tools of adventure include a pair of skinny, questionably functional legs and a stroller to aid balance and carry camping gear for six days on the dry lakes bed of Death Valley.
I had come out to the desert with him as a friend and a filmmaker to capture his personal endeavor to walk a tract of land measuring 20 miles. From a filmmaker’s perspective the stark beauty and symbolism of Death Valley was perfect for this journey allowing me to truly create a portrait of limited mobility and how it affects the lives of those who live with it. After we returned and started looking at the story it became clear that we needed to do more. This trek grew into a larger project and became the “backbone” of a feature length documentary entitled Coming to my Senses about Aaron’s 15 years struggle to regain movement.
Aaron’s story spoke to me in a powerful way. As a filmmaker I spend most of my time chasing and filming stereotypical adventure —skiing, climbing, mountain biking—but when I met Aaron it dawned on me that I’d found a guy who completely redefines the term “adventure”’ for me.
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