Riding for a Fall

By Lisa Bendall

Most people have limits on the risks that they would take, even when it comes to activities in which thousands of others have participated safely. Like parachuting, or mountain climbing. Or bungee jumping.

But occasionally, some foolish -- or brave -- mortal comes along willing to try something that has never been risked before. In February 1992, that someone was Brian Van Leeuwen, 27, an engineer in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Brian has used a wheelchair since a spinal cord injury eleven years ago. Last year, he became interested in bungee jumping and decided to take the plunge. In his wheelchair.

Recoil Inc., the company he approached, had never before had a customer with a disability. But they were willing enough to let Brian try it out.

"[The company owner] encouraged, very highly, that I jump without a wheelchair," Brian said. But when Brian asked how it would be done and realized that someone would have to push or throw him off the platform, he was reluctant. "The minute I’m out of the chair, I’m pretty immobile," he said. He saw that, in his wheelchair, "this was something I could do independently."

Brian preferred to find a way to stay in his wheelchair and push himself off the platform. "So I brought my trusty old duct tape," he said. With the harness strapped to his body, Brian was taped securely to the chair before he jumped.

The wheelchair itself was not damaged in any way by the fall.

When people talk about the novel and somewhat controversial sport of bungee jumping, a big question is often, Why? Brian explained that before the accident that left him with a disability, he was quite athletic and involved in many different sports and activities. "After you get hurt, a lot of the things you do are taken away from you," he said. "[Bungee jumping] is something that gives you that rush again."

And how did it feel to wheel off a platform 150 foot in the air? "I felt pretty comfortable with what they [the company] were doing it with and how they were doing it. It seemed to be pretty safe . . . There’s always still things that could happen," Brian added, describing fleeting thoughts atop the tower to the effect of "Oh boy, how’d you get yourself into this one?", but "never would I consider not going through with it," he said.

Describing the fall itself, Brian remarked: “It puts you in a different state of mind. As you’re falling, the body goes into a protective mode . . . I didn’t even feel the rebound, the change of direction."

Brian attempted to explain the attraction for so many bungee enthusiasts who willingly strap themselves to a 100-foot elastic cord and fall through the sky: "It’s a rush . . . It gets your natural adrenalin going, where your body just gets into high gear."

He got mixed reviews from people who heard about the jump. "A lot of people said, ’you’ve got more guts than I do. I would never have done that.’ They were kind of questioning it . . . I never did question it but a lot of people basically said they guessed they were just a little bit more conservative." Brian also received quite a bit of publicity after his stunt -- he made front page news and was invited as a guest speaker on local radio shows. "I really enjoy doing that," Brian said, adding that he has collected enough newspaper clippings for a scrapbook.

Did Brian think he was taking a risk? "I didn’t think so . . . Like anything that you do, you place your body on the line. I guess that’s part of the enjoyment, or part of the rush, that you get out of it." When asked if he would do "wheelchair bungee jumping" again, he said, "Yeah, I think I would. It’s not something you do every weekend, but I do recommend that people at least try it once."

(Lisa Bendall is an ABILITIES staff writer.)