How hanging around his basement helps a P.E.I. man recover after a near fatal 30-metre fall

Matt Cormier clings to his basement climbing wall, with fingers and toes painfully reaching out to the nearest plastic hold.

Two years ago, the Stratford, P.E.I. man was clinging to his life after falling the equivalent of a nine-storey building while rock climbing on a rugged cliff in New Brunswick.  

'Broke my neck, my arm, my leg'

"Got hurt pretty bad," said Cormier, reciting a long list of injuries. "Broke my neck, my arm, my leg, my sternum, broke my foot in five or six different places."

It was a long road to bouncing back. "At first I couldn't even get to the basement," he said. "Then once things started to improve, like my heart of hearts always said 'You want to go back to climbing.' It didn't know what physically would happen. I was always optimistic, but tried to be honest, too."

'Three easy moves' 

It was just a few months after the accident, on New Year's Day in 2018, that Cormier decided to get back into his climbing cave — one of the biggest basement climbing walls on the Island. 

"I just climbed across that wall — three easy moves just to ring in the new year in a big positive way."

To put that accomplishment into perspective, you have to imagine what it's like to grasp small plastic holds, drilled into the wall. Some of them have places for your fingers and toes, while others are just mounds you have to tightly grip. A lot of the time, you're literally hanging from fingers and toes.  

'It's right there in front of you'

That first successful attempt on New Year's Day was overwhelming. "It was harder than I remembered, but more exciting than I remembered," he said.

"It was emotional because you don't really expect you're going to be back to it that quickly and then all of a sudden it's right there in front of you." 

Cormier started building his climbing wall as a family project one Christmas a few years ago. "I just started out with just a modest plan and quickly went over budget. Then gradually kept adding on over time and the first couple of years we would have weekly get-togethers here with the climbing club and just have a good time."

'I'm just overjoyed'

He has a few hundred plastic holds, although they're not all up on the wall. For Cormier, the basement retreat represents a major milestone in his recovery.

"I'm just overjoyed. There were moments where I didn't know if I'd be back climbing, back to coaching and weightlifting and all of that kind of stuff," Cormier said.

"When you finally get to do exactly what you want, when you want — and not have any real physical barriers anymore, it's pretty awesome."

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