Author, human rights activist, paralympian: Tiana Tozer has played many roles in her life. The one role she refuses to play is victim.<\/p>\n
Tozer spoke at Juneau Rotary\u2019s Pillars of America series Wednesday at Centennial Hall. Severely injured by a drunk driver at 20 years old, Tozer lost the use of her right leg from the knee down. Through countless surgeries she has learned to walk unassisted and has never allowed her disability to slow her down.<\/p>\n
Tozer focused on two themes when speaking to the more than 200 youth attending Wednesday\u2019s program: your appearance doesn\u2019t define you, and sometimes the choices you make last forever.<\/p>\n
She opened her speech by talking about how people treat you differently when you have a disability.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was in a restaurant once and I stood up from my wheelchair to put my trenchcoat on,\u201d Tozer started. \u201cA woman then stood up in the back of the restaurant and said, \u2018I was feeling sorry for you before you stood up.\u2019 And I said to her, \u2018Why would you ever feel sorry for a stranger in a wheelchair?\u2019 Maybe I\u2019m not deserving of your pity, maybe I\u2019m a mean, evil and nasty person. Yet she wants to pity me. Any time we judge somebody based on one thing, whether it\u2019s a physical characteristic, or a chance encounter, invariably we\u2019re going to be wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tozer boils her life down to two important choices \u2014 the choice an alcoholic made to get behind the wheel on May 14, 1988, and the choice she made to chase her dreams despite not knowing if she\u2019d ever walk again.<\/p>\n
As a rugby-playing sophomore at the University of Oregon, a drunk driver ran a stop sign and T-boned the vehicle she was riding in, throwing her into the intersection. A 3,000 pound vehicle then ran over her lower body.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of a sudden there\u2019s a flash, and I am out on the ground,\u201d Tozer said. \u201cI am thinking, \u2018Where am I? Am I on the rugby field? Who just tackled me and why can\u2019t I get up?\u2019 … The last thing I remember on May 14, 1988, was being taken to this big, white room and hearing this woman screaming, \u2018Please put me to sleep, don\u2019t make me stay awake for this.\u2019 Right when I lost consciousness I realized it was me who was screaming.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tozer spent a month in critical condition in the hospital undergoing near-daily surgery. Doctors never expected her live, much less walk again, and almost needed to amputate her right leg below the knee.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened was it broke my left hip and everything below my left hip,\u201d she explained to the audience. \u201cBut it had crushed my lower right leg. \u2026 It (the vehicle) had severed my right artery, so the muscles that were in there were dying.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI realized that everything I had planned for my life is now in pieces around me as broken as my body,\u201d Tozer realized. \u201cWhether or not I walk again is questionable, and whether or not I leave the hospital is also questionable. I am 20 years old, and I don\u2019t want to live anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her single mother was supportive, and wouldn\u2019t allow Tozer to lower any of her expectations. Tozer credits her mother\u2019s tough love with helping her move on with her life.<\/p>\n
After leaving the hospital, Tozer\u2019s mother asked her, \u201cWhat are you going to do with the rest of your summer?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRecover?\u201d Tozer replied.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, that\u2019s great but I don\u2019t want you sitting around the house all summer. It\u2019s an election season, so I think you should volunteer for a campaign,\u201d her mother said.<\/p>\n
After weeks of driving Tozer to physical therapy and the election office, Tozer\u2019s mother said she couldn\u2019t take off work each day any more and that Tozer should learn how to ride the bus.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis really terrible thing happened to me, and my mother still had expectations,\u201d Tozer recalled. \u201cShe expected me to go on and live my life to the best of my ability. When we have expectations of people, the tendency is for them to rise to those expectations. I know a lot of people think my mother\u2019s mean, but that\u2019s called tough love, and I know my mother loves me. If it hadn\u2019t been for her, I don\u2019t know if I\u2019d be standing here today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tozer went on to win five wheelchair national championships and four international medals.<\/p>\n
She left the young crowd with a message that she hoped will resonate with them the rest of their lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cAttitude and belief are powerful things. Only you get to decide if you\u2019re going to place limitations on your own life. Don\u2019t let anyone else tell you what you can and cannot do. I won\u2019t ever tell you what you can\u2019t do, however, I do expect one thing of you: Whatever the choices you make, live and deal with the consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Contact Sports Editor Kevin Gullufsen at 523-2228 or kevin.gullufsen@juneauempire.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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