Journalist found his footing again… and again

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This article was published 16/05/2015 (4118 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Being able to walk is something most people take for granted. But for noted television, print and radio journalist Peter Kavanagh, best-known for his work at the CBC, it’s been hard to do — and something he’s had to do three times.

“Walking is the key to who I am. How I walk today, the canes and walking sticks I have owned, the braces I have worn and wear, the shoes I can’t buy, the shoes I can, how I think about my walking, how other people think of my walking — all have been ravelled together and constitute the heart of me.”

In The Man Who Learned to Walk Three Times, Kavanagh shares his compelling story of perseverance and his determination not to be defined by his limp or the pain, but to walk despite it all.

Kavanagh’s father was a project manager for a construction company, and the family was often transferred. When Kavanagh was two months old he contracted polio, which left his lower left leg paralyzed and weak.

Each time they transferred, Kavanagh had to adjust to new schools, teachers and doctors. He was often bullied both by his four siblings and kids at school, but honestly notes that he bullied right back by using words and developing a cutting wit.

When he was nine, he had an experimental surgery to help his shorter left leg grow longer. But three years later, doctors realized it wasn’t just polio that had affected his ability to walk. He was diagnosed with congenital hip displaysia (a dislocated hip), which had likely been present since birth.

The ball and the socket of the hip had been grinding away at each other for so long they were completely gone. So he had another surgery done which fixed his femur to his pelvis.

Kavanagh spent a year confined to his bed, most of the time in a body cast, which helped him foster his interest in politics and the news. While he explains the medical terms and jargon very well, his spare, journalistic writing style detaches the story from the emotional aspect of the ordeal — of how he was affected by the isolation, bullying and loneliness.

After his body cast was removed he managed to learn to walk again, but still had a significant limp and problems with his gait. He also broke his foot a number of times and by his early 40s, ended up in a brace and special shoes.

While his parents turned to Catholicism to try and understand his health issues and the associated guilt and anger, Kavanagh explains how he turned to Buddhism and meditation as an adult to try and manage pain, as well his issues with self-esteem and self-identity.

In 2012, at age 59, he underwent hip-reconstruction surgery and months of rehabilitation to learn to walk again for the third time in his life.

Throughout the book, he focuses on how the surgeries and the physical pain affected his relationships with his parents, family and school friends. However, he doesn’t reference it much in relation to his studies or career until later in the book, and then only as he decides to retire.

The Man Who Learned to Walk Three Times is a well-written look at how walking is not something we’re born knowing how to do. Instead, Kavanagh notes it’s something precious and important, and the freedom it gives should be valued and appreciated throughout our lives.

 

Julie Kentner is a Winnipeg writer.