Motocross–An Important Part Of Chet Dyreson’s Life

Editor’s Note: 49 year old Chet Dyreson of Perris, California has always been involved in motocross–racing high performance motorcycles on off road terrain and going through obstacles that most people never attempt. This week you’ll read a story of a man who has refused to be limited by a tragic accident. Part 1 of a 5 part series.

Our love of motocross can be traced back to my dad, since he and I once rode regularly in the desert together. After high school, I got away from my love of motocross, married and had children. Our main family activity was boating, which was primarily a summertime activity. We didn’t really have a sport for the winter months in which we all could participate. One Christmas I bought a motocross bike for myself and bikes for all of my kids. My children developed into pretty serious motocross racers. We started off by trail riding on the bikes, and my sons especially loved it.

Chet Dyreson's family has a strong love for motocross.

Before my accident, I had a small general contracting business. I had three children I was raising by myself – Casey, my oldest son who’s 27 now, my daughter Christie, who’s now 23, and my youngest son Clint, who’s now 22. I was really busy with three children and a contracting business. Each day I’d drop my kids off at school and take them to daycare after school. When they got a little older, I let them stay home after school. I’d come in every day after work and help each child with his or her homework.

My oldest son played football when he was in high school, but our main sport was motocross. We went to motocross races almost every weekend, and often if the children kept their grades up, I’d even take them out of school on Thursday, and we’d be at the motocross races all weekend. Each one of us had a motocross bike and in later years we had several bikes.

My younger son, Clint, was really serious about racing up until he was about 18. I guess you could say motocross was one of the threads that ran through our family’s life that not only was a recreational activity that we could all take part in but also was a bonding type of sport that our entire family loved to do together. We used Kawasaki motorcycles. Back in those days, I spent 4 or 5 days at the motocross track a week. My children were at the track every weekend.

Chet Dyreson has spent a lot of his time at the motocross track.

In our recreational motocrossing, none of us ever had any serious accidents after my big one, other than my younger son landing short of a jump and breaking both his legs. When my son broke both of his legs, we became a two wheelchair family.

There were six motocross tracks within an hour’s drive of our home. We always went to one big race every year. My children raced in their age classes, and I raced with a group of other riders who were 30 and older. You have to understand that a weekend motocross race for my family was more than just getting to the race track, running a few warm up laps and then entering a race. A lot of socializing went on, and at different races, we would barbecue, cook together and camp out. Some of the races were all day events, and others were 2 day events. We’d go with our friends to hang-out, eat and just have a great time. I never saw the day coming that we wouldn’t go racing. Even today, although I’m in a wheelchair, motocross races are still a big part of our family’s life.

To contact Chet Dyreson, visit his webpage at http://wheelingtocuresci.org. You can email him at wheelchairmodz@yahoo.com.

Next: Chet Dyreson’s Life Changing Accident

About the Author: For the last 12 years, John E. Phillips of Vestavia, Alabama, has been a professional blogger for major companies, corporations and tourism associations throughout the nation. During his 24 years as Outdoor Editor for “The Birmingham Post-Herald” newspaper, he published more than 7,000 newspaper columns and sold more than 100,000 of his photos to newspapers, magazines and internet sites. He also hosted a radio show that was syndicated at 27 radio stations; created, wrote and sold a syndicated newspaper column that ran in 38 newspapers for more than a decade; and wrote and sold more than 30 books. Learn more at http://www.nighthawkpublications.com

Musician and Paraplegic Frank Barham’s Life Changing Accident

Frank Barham was very active before his injury, but he continues to do what he loves over 30 years later.

Editor’s Note: 56 year-old Frank Barham, of Atlanta, is living his dream. He has a deep understanding of what a musician is. He is passionate about learning and playing great music– a true musician never stops learning. He knows that jazz is a never ending journey of trying to become better and expressing his view of the world through the music he plays. Part 2 of a 5 part series.

My life before spinal cord injury was extremely active. After college I was an active 24 year old, I’d been in sales, and I’d just left one company and was looking for another job in sales when the accident happened.

I’m not very proud of how I became injured. I was driving home from a party and had been drinking. I didn’t stop for a policeman that had been following me. I lost control of my car. It flipped over, I wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, I broke quite a few bones in my upper body, and broke my back at L1 and L2 from compression fractures. The first thing I remember after the accident was waking up in the emergency room, and the doctor saying to me, “This is really going to hurt.” The doctor then pushed a tube into my chest to re-inflate my collapsed lung. One of my broken ribs had punctured my lung, I also had a broken collarbone, a broken wrist and broken ribs. I’m not really sure what else was broken, since the accident occurred so long ago. I’ve tried to forget about it.

I remember the doctors came into my room and poked my legs with a pin. I had no feeling in my legs and was told I’d never be able to walk again. I was totally devastated. To be honest, I really wasn’t interested in living. I felt I’d had a great life before the accident, and I was ready to die, rather than never be able to walk again. I was very active before my injury, so this was difficult news.

I had always loved playing basketball, but this was a new life. Basketball didn’t derive the same feelings of joy as it used to. I turned to music to re-capture my joy. I’d always really been a fan of the blues and decided I wanted to learn how to play the harmonica. Then perhaps I could make life interesting enough to continue. I had many things to learn about my new life when I was in rehab. I had to learn how to dress myself, get in and out of the wheelchair and operate it. The rehab hospital I went to wasn’t very progressive at all, and it certainly wasn’t on the level of the Shepherd Center in Atlanta. I didn’t learn anything about how to deal with the outside world, but that was a long time ago. Many times I wanted to give up, but because of my competitive nature, something inside of me wouldn’t let me quit. Between the overwhelming pain and depression and going from being able bodied to having to deal with a spinal cord injury and using a wheelchair, I found moments of joy in my music.

Frank Barham finds great joy in music.

I went from being a member of the majority demographic of the United States to a minority. Also, as an able bodied person, I was protected by EEO and complete access to all facilities. As a person with a disability, I was not protected by EEO at that time and had limited access. One of the best things that happened to me during this time was also one of the worst things that happened to me. I got really angry, but I used that as motivation to persevere. I was mad at myself for making the stupid choice that put myself in. I was frustrated by the lack of options after my accident and how the world treated me differently.  

I was able to transform these feelings into determination, by taking the attitude of, “I’ll be damned if I’m going to let this accident beat me.” I used the anger to keep me going when I really had no desire. I also used my anger to keep society from pushing me into a corner, because I wasn’t like everyone else. I demanded that other people treat me like a man, whether I was standing up or sitting down and I wanted nothing less than equal rights. While I was able to use this frustration as a positive force, it eventually became a problem because I was not seeing the beauty in life. To be honest, I still have to deal with my frustration, but I remind myself daily how truly fortunate I am.

Next: Musician And Paraplegic Frank Barham’s New Life

About the Author: For the last 12 years, John E. Phillips of Vestavia, Alabama, has been a professional blogger for major companies, corporations and tourism associations throughout the nation. During his 24 years as Outdoor Editor for “The Birmingham Post-Herald” newspaper, he published more than 7,000 newspaper columns and sold more than 100,000 of his photos to newspapers, magazines and internet sites. He also hosted a radio show that was syndicated at 27 radio stations; created, wrote and sold a syndicated newspaper column that ran in 38 newspapers for more than a decade; and wrote and sold more than 30 books. Learn more at http://www.nighthawkpublications.com