Podcast: Tammy Cunnington’s new memoir ‘Still Fighting’ out Oct. 4, details fight for dreams big and small

Cunnington, who competed in the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2021 Summer Paralympics, received critical injuries during an air show in Ponoka, nearly 45 years ago.

At the show, an out-of-control plane crash-landed, hitting her, causing a life turnaround she would ultimately craft into a story of inspiration, determination, hope, and never losing that fighting spirit.

“The crash also broke my brother’s leg, but at that point [for me], it was truly about fighting for my life. There wasn’t originally an expectation I would survive my injuries,” she says in a new interview with rdnewsNOW and The Everything Red Deer Podcast.

“From there, it was fighting for recovery, fighting for moving from a stretcher to a wheelchair, fighting for a high quality of life in a new body, in a new world, and being a wheelchair user.”

She says the word fighting, viewed with a positive lens, was an important word for her to highlight with her book’s title, because it symbolizes having never given up.

Swimming, in fact, wasn’t something she even liked before the accident. Cunnington was a talented figure skater.

(Swimming Canada)

Years later, as an adult, she decided to compete in a local Red Deer triathlon at the downtown recreation centre, and a fire was lit.

At 41, Cunnington, a member of the Red Deer Catalina Swim Club and just two years after taking up competitive swimming, competed in her first Paralympics.

In Rio, she placed 11th in three separate events — the 50 m butterfly (swimming up a class in S5 classification), the 150 m individual medley, and the 50 m freestyle. She also finished 13th in the 50 m breaststroke.

At the Tokyo Games, Cunnington finished 13^th in the 50 m breaststroke, the 50m backstroke and the 150 m individual medley.

She won gold in the 50 m backstroke (S4) and bronze in the 150 m individual medley (SM4) at the Cairns 2018 Pan Pacific Para Swimming Championships.

She also broke the Canadian record in the 50 m freestyle at the 2017 Para-swimming Canadian Open; and even cooler, she broke the world record in the S4 50 m butterfly twice at the 2016 Olympic & Para-swimming Trials, which is what initially qualified her for Rio.

She retired following Tokyo, has also competed nationally in wheelchair basketball, and co-owns a construction company with her husband.

“It took me a long time to decide to write [the book], even after I’d been approached. [After reading it], I really want people to feel my spirit and my strength, and be able to take that into their life,” Cunnington shared.

“There were a lot of things that were difficult, lots of frustrations, and I didn’t always live perfectly or rise above as much as I maybe would have liked to, but I have built a high quality of life.

“I did keep striving forward and did keep reaching for dreams such as the Paralympics or much simpler dreams of just being independent and living in my own space. I want people to feel that internal fire.”

A documentary about Cunnington, filmed after Rio and called Power on Water, can be viewed at the Red Deer Museum & Art Gallery.

by Josh Hall | @Vancan19

Podcast: Tammy Cunnington’s new memoir ‘Still Fighting’ out Oct. 4, details fight for dreams big and small

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