Image

Learn from every experience says McGregor

April 26, 2022

Canadian Paralympian Tyler McGregor is urging students at Lambton Centennial to learn from every experience, even the tough ones.

The Forest native who has competed in three Paralympic Games visited the Enniskillen school Tuesday showing off some of his hardware and sharing his story with the students gathered for their first assembly since the COVID-19 pandemic began two years ago. And in sharing his story, McGregor showed the students that even the tough moments in life can teach important lessons.

McGregor grew up like many sitting on the floor at Centennial. A small town boy, he was skating as a toddler and enrolled in hockey by the time he was three. McGregor lived and breathed the sport.

“I dreamed of playing in the NHL,” he told the students.“I would spend so many hours, both in my garage and in the wintertime in the backyard rink, just pretending to be that, and wanting to someday represent Canada. And I practiced and I practiced and practiced and I continue to fall in love with hockey as a young kid.”

At 15, he was playing with the South Huron Perth Lakers and working hard to realize his dream. Then, he broke his leg. It spelled the end of his season and eventually lead to an eight month hospital stay.

As he recovered from the broken leg, a mass started to grow below his knee. When McGregor was ready to hit the ice again, it was the size of a tennis ball. 

“In hockey, you wear shin pads and it was pretty difficult at that time just to be able to fit the shin pads around my legs, it had grown so much,” McGregor said.

Doctors diagnosed him with cancer similar to the type Terry Fox. As he geared up for a fight, the doctor delivered devastating news. 

“I met with an orthopedic oncologist who specializes in bone cancer and he said, ‘Tyler, in order to save your life, we have to amputate your leg.’” In April 2010, doctors removed his leg above the knee. McGregor had eight months of chemotherapy – spent mostly in isolation from his friends. 

The toughest part, he told the students, was coming to the realization it wasn’t going to be a piece of cake to walk again. “I had to relearn pretty much everything, had to relearn how to walk, which was far more difficult than I ever anticipated. I figured that I would just get a prosthetic leg and walk right out of the hospital and it certainly wasn’t like that.”

Eventually he figured it out. Then McGregor tried to skate. That didn’t go well. Soon, he found out about sledge hockey and joined a team. One year later, he became the youngest member of Team Canada’s para hockey team and was headed to South Korea where they won the World Championship.

Canada’s sledge hockey team is always among the best in the world, but McGregor said Olympic gold was elusive. He’s competed at the Paralympics three times and brought home a bronze and two silver medals, including one this year from Beijing. 

McGregor told the students that while each time he was aiming for gold, he learned something from each Olympic experience. And he’s says he’s particularly proud of this year’s Silver medal.

“I’m so proud of our team for the discipline and the resilience of just dealing with the pandemic. And finding a way to continue to improve and to be prepared through some of the most challenging circumstances that we’ve seen in the past century. 

 “I think with each with each experience, regardless of the outcome, you have to accept that and you have to try and learn from that. And you have to take all the good things that have come from that.”

And McGregor urged the students to see how well they’ve done during the pandemic.

“I’m proud of you for how resilient you’ve been over the past few years, and I bet it feels so good to be back in school with all your friends. Enjoy the opportunity to be in school, to be social, McGregor said adding, “Take advantage of every opportunity to play sports to participate in the Terry Fox Run, do different school activities. Soak every single moment and as you move forward in life.”

And McGregor thanked Lambton Centennial students for their role in his recovery. 

“Thanks to all the cancer research and awareness through things like the Terry Fox Run, that all of you do every single year, I’ve been fortunate enough to regain my health and to survive, and to continue to chase my dreams. 

“So thank you, for your efforts in supporting the Terry Fox are in every single year because it has an enormous impact not only for people like myself, but people all around the world, and their families.”

Share This

Image
Front Page

Fraud pilot project in Lambton saves $160,000 in six months

May 16, 2025

Heather Wright/The Independent A unique program in Lambton is saving seniors from telephone scammers and catching the eye ofbanks in Canada. Lambton OPP Inspec. Chris Avery told Petrolia councillors Monday an anti-fraud program has stopped scammers from pocketing about $160,000 from Lambton residents in the last six months. Frauds are big business in Canada. Over $638 million was stolen in

Read More

Image
Front Page

Five LCCVI athletes win at Day Two of LK Track and Field meet

May 16, 2025

Five LCCVI athletes were at the top of the podium at the Lambton-Kent Track Meet . Meagan Munro, Kole Chapman, Jamison Helps, Jayden Davis-Lumley and James Grant all placed first in their events Wednesday at Great Lakes Secondary School. Munro won the 300M Junior Women’s Hurdles in 44 seconds. She had already won in the 80M Hurdles and second in

Read More

Image
Front Page

One person seriously injured in accident near Rutherford

May 15, 2025

One person was taken to hospital by air ambulance after an accident near Rutherford. Lambton OPP were called to Lambton Line near Pantry School Road just before 4 pm Thursday for a collision between a large fertilizer truck and a farm tractor towing a wagon with a water tank. Ornge air ambulance was called to the scene to take one

Read More

Image
Front Page

Temporary EMS station set up in Sarnia

May 15, 2025

The Independent Sarnia’s new ambulances have a new home. Lambton County has leased a commercial space near Modeland Road and Confederation Line to house a temporary EMS Station. Lambton County approved upgrading ambulance service in the city at budget after Stephen Turner, manager of emergency services for the county, said 62 per cent of calls are in Sarnia but only

Read More