World Sledge Hockey Champion
In 1994, Melanie McPherson was a student in Paul Alcamo's class at Bloorview Kids Rehab. At the end of each school year, Paul creates a space odyssey in his class with a massive spaceship so that the kids can pretend they are astronauts for the day. Most of the kids love this activity and enjoy pretending they are famous astronauts, but this activity really stuck with young Melanie throughout her childhood.
Shortly after graduating from Paul's class at the tender age of 5, Melanie made two life goals. First, she wanted to become an astronaut and second, she wanted to play in the NHL for the Toronto Maple Leafs. In her perfect world, she would be an astronaut and in her spare time play for the NHL.
The only problem was that Melanie was born with Cerebral Palsy and people kept telling her that astronauts don't have crutches, to which she typically responded: "None, as yet."
Just because Melanie didn't know of any astronauts with crutches wasn't going to stop this ambitious young girl. At 14 years old, Melanie experienced her first plane ride and she was hooked. Although, she had to be lifted into the plane, Melanie realized that she was limitless in the sky and turned her astronaut dream into that of a pilot.
Melanie joined flight school and was told by one of the instructors: "There is no such thing as a disabled pilot," to which Melanie quickly responded: "Well not until now!" and quickly joined another flight school. Currently, Melanie is striving to become one of the first female pilots with a disability in Canada.
This achievement didn't stop her from pursuing her second goal to become a NHL player. However, once Melanie put on a pair of skates she fell down. This created a bit of a dilemma since skating is a major component of NHL hockey. Melanie decided that sledge hockey would be the next best thing. Within a few short years, Melanie ended up on the Canadian Women's Sledge team and went to the World Sledge Hockey Championships. They have their sights set on competing at the Paralympics.
Melanie’s has deferred her admission to the University of Western Ontario for a year to recover from knee surgery and train for hockey and a triathlon.
