Shiny Side Up

Confronting the barriers and stigma around PTSD and navigating the recovery process can be an enormous challenge for many veterans. I salute Sgt Grant’s authentic account of his recovery story through his cross Canada motorcycle journey to offer hope and meaning to others in similar circumstances. I will forever be grateful to veterans like Sgt Grant for who paid the ultimate price with their service and have returned to make a difference. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the veterans who created the Paralympic sport movement. As a young kid, their courage inspired me to believe that I could achieve my potential as an athlete and go on my Man In Motion World Tour. Whether it’s overcoming a visible or invisible barrier, as a nation, we have a responsibility to honour and support our veterans on their respective missions of recovery.

Rick Hansen, Founder & CEO, Rick Hansen Foundation

“Riding down the road when you are in your Zen space, you digest parts of your memories a little bit at time…. Healing doesn’t happen overnight, nor do the memories of the trauma ever disappear completely, but you can learn to live with the experience.”

After a diagnosis of PTSD, Kurt Grant has to leave his military career behind. In an attempt to find healing and peace, he takes a cross-country trip on his motorcycle, hoping that long stretches of road and some fly-fishing interludes will sort out the chaos in his mind.  But as he travels, he finds far more—pieces of his past, understanding of the country he calls home, the joys of small prairie towns, and some spectacular fishing spots. More than that, he finds profound truth about what it truly means to heal from a wound that nobody can see.