Erin: It was the end of the road, and when I went into the woods, I was completely lost.
And then I was just terrified and really just hoping that somebody would hear me.
Kathleen: It was very gruesome her feet were falling off.
Erin: And then I really don't remember anything after that point.
I started learning circus about 11 years ago, and I just loved it.
And I discovered aerial arts and just was completely hooked.
But when I'm performing in front of people, I feel excited. Nervous is before I'm performing.
And in the moment, like it's where I should be.
Acrobatics plays a huge role. If I am not in doing it,
I am teaching it or thinking about it pretty much all of the time.
I was at a place in my life where I was doing circus
and that was making me really happy. But my life outside of that wasn't great. I went for a drive.
I got out of my car, went for a walk in the woods, which I also love to do,
and have always loved to do. But my boots were not waterproof, and it was winter.
I walked and I wasn't paying attention to where I was going.
So I sat down and was just
didn't know what to do. And when I went to get up,
I couldn't feel my feet. And I didn't really think much of it at that point.
But they had gotten really wet because I had walked through snow
and there were it was like swampy and icy and wet in there.
And my feet were numb and I couldn't walk on them.
So I crawled. And for a while I just had it in my head. I'll get back to my car.
I really started to panic. I started screaming for help.
Obviously, nobody came. And then I really don't remember anything. After that.
Kathleen: I remember it was a Thursday, and I had received a phone call from the police the OPP.
And they were asking me
I guess if my daughter knew anybody up in the Tamworth area,
and I was very curious. So I asked them and they said, well, they think they found her and
they're going to be flying her in to KGH by helicopter.
Erin: So I was found six days later, I was unconscious. When they found me.
My body temperature was 19 degrees Celsius. So they flew me to the hospital, opened me up and
slowly put warm fluids into my body to warm me up.
And when I woke up, I couldn't see anything, but I could hear and I remember hearing,
we're not going to show her her feet just yet.
Kathleen: It was very gruesome her feet were falling off.
I mean, you just came to the door and you could smell them.
Erin: My feet were at a point that there was absolutely no return. They were like starting to come off.
So I said yes, and went ahead with the surgery.
So I was expecting that when I woke up, just my feet would be gone. And instead,
I saw that I had a few inches below my knees. And my legs were bandaged up.
I really don't even know how to put into words. But like in that moment,
what that felt like it was I mean, I felt like my circus career was over.
I didn't know anybody. I didn't know any amputees. I didn't know anybody
who you know, was in the disabled community.
All I knew about disability and like using wheelchairs was that it was bad. I feel like that is the message that
is put out in a lot of society.And I started going to physio and
decided yes, I'm going to walk, I'm going to live and I'm going to do circus.
I felt like it was the end of the road when I went into the woods.
And so this just felt like a new, totally new life.
Idea for an accessible circus space just came kind of naturally out of me realising that there was a need for it.
I needed to figure out what to do with my own body
and then with other people and their situations when they would come in
Emma: When I started two and a half years ago with circus, I was pretty much a wreck.
There was a lot going on in my life and wasn't really functioning
that well. And so starting circus gave me sort of a creative outlet
and a physical outlet and a family and a home and
really helped me a lot of things till now I realised that like I'm capable of so much.
Kathleen: The world has opened up to her and she's grabbed it and made the most of everything.
She's still finding herself but more power to her.
Emma: I mean she's an incredible person. I've never met someone as
strong and passionate and resilient as she is.
Erin: Movement makes me feel comfortable in my body. It think kind of, you know, if I start to feel negative
or focus on negative things, I feel like movement just resets everything.