Josh Hancock, Danielle Doelling and Anna Soens are all athletes based in Bend who suffered life-changing accidents, leaving them with varied levels of paraplegic injury. All three of these athletes spent their lives before injury participating in extreme outdoor sports. The film “Adapted” follows them on their journeys to get back to the activities they love, finding new ways to access the outdoors and participate in major outdoor feats.
Paul Bikis, the director of the film, noticed the threads through all of their stories and created a feature-length film showcasing Hancock, Doellning and Soens. “Adapted” premieres in Bend on April 23 and in Portland on April 30. “Think Out Loud” spoke with Soens ahead of her Paralympic debut in Milan-Cortina earlier this year. We’re joined by Bikis, Hancock and Doelling to talk about the new film.
Note: The following transcript was transcribed digitally and validated for accuracy, readability and formatting by an OPB volunteer.
Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. Josh Hancock, Danielle Doelling and Anna Soens are athletes based in Bend who were each involved in climbing accidents that left them with spinal cord injuries. Being outdoors and pushing their physical limits wasn’t just a pastime for them. It was a core aspect of their identity.
Now, through adaptive sports, all three have found accessible ways to keep moving in the wilderness. The trio are featured in the new documentary “Adapted.” It screens this Thursday at the Tower Theatre in Bend and next Thursday, April 30, at the Aladdin Theater in Portland.
I’m joined now by director Paul Bikis and by two of the people he profiled, Josh Hancock and Danielle Doelling. It’s great to have all three of you on the show.
Paul Bikis: Thank you so much for having us.
Miller: Paul, first – what set you off on this journey?
Bikis: Oh man, that’s a bit of a journey in itself. I started this film just after college when I moved home to take care of my mom who had just entered hospice. I grew up outdoors, loved skiing and biking, and so did she. As I was home taking care of her, we started going on hikes and I actually got her involved in the local adaptive sports chapter.
At that time, I met a long-distance hiker named Hawkeye of the GoHawkeye Foundation, who introduced me to Josh, Anna and Danielle. I started seeing how he was helping them get back outdoors. And there were these parallels in what I was going through with my mom. We started discussing what a film might look like about reconnecting to the outdoors and why it’s so important to us.
Miller: What do you think it meant to your mom?
Bikis: That’s a good question. I think there’s a couple parts to it. At that time, she was completely dependent on other people, so she couldn’t get out there on her own. I think the fresh air, the mountain breeze was important to her, but it was also getting to go out there with me and that community aspect that you get when you’re in the mountains.
Miller: Danielle, can you give us a sense for what your outdoor life, your activity life was like before your climbing accident about 15 years ago?
Danielle Doelling: The year before I was injured, I left my job in New York and moved into my Honda Fit. I traveled around the country, just living out of my car and rock climbing every day. So being outside and being active was my entire life.
Miller: I was gonna say what did it mean to you, but I guess you just answered that. I mean, climbing was your entire life.
Doelling: Yeah, I love the meditative aspect of it. Really challenging yourself to the point of having to be totally present in the moment and having a reason to travel and meet new people, amazing people all the time.
Miller: Josh, what about you? What was your outdoor life like before your climbing accident which, as I understand it, was in 2014?
Josh Hancock: It was like a daily practice. I rode my bike to work every day in Seattle. After the work week was over, I would usually load up in the car with some friends, and we would travel a couple hours to spend the weekend climbing, backcountry skiing or fishing. It’s kinda what most of my free time and interests revolved around.
Miller: Paul, I’m curious how you – maybe in consultation with Josh, Danielle and Anna – decided to include a section in your film about their climbing accidents?
Bikis: I guess through the interview process. When you’re putting a film like this together, it’s a lot of questions [about] how this happened, what drove you. Through hearing their stories about each of their falls, the interviews that described how it happened, that part of their story was so compelling that we felt like we needed to incorporate it and visually show a recreation of it.
Miller: Josh, I want to ask Paul that question because my understanding is not everybody who has experienced something like what you have, they don’t always want to talk about it. They don’t want that to be mentioned over and over. How did you feel about including some details about your fall in this movie?
Hancock: Well, it was difficult in some ways. I mean, we very much had to go into our memories and imaginations and relive these things. I think, on some level, I remember my injury every single day of my life. It’s a present part of my world because it affects how I move on a daily basis. By owning these stories and telling them, they lose some of the fear and trauma that are associated with them. So in some ways, I think telling this story is cathartic.
What doesn’t feel good is when someone reduces you to just your story. So if someone approaches me in public that I haven’t met before and they’re like, “Hey, how’d you get in a wheelchair?” I want to say something like, “How about you tell me about the worst day of your life, and I’ll tell you about mine.” But when it’s a friend or family member, or through this film where we’re inviting you to know who we are as people, that feels authentic. That feels like there is knowledge, worth and value in the story, even though it’s difficult to tell.
Miller: Danielle, after your injury, what were you told by doctors or physical therapists about what you would likely be able to do, going forward, and what they thought would either be impossible or unlikely?
Doelling: I remember my surgeon telling me pretty early on that I was going to be able to ski again, which gave me this ray of hope through a really long rehab process. There were also therapists, physical, occupational and recreational therapists that helped to point the way of how to get back into the outdoors and sports, which was clear that I wanted to do as soon as possible.
Miller: How aware were you early on of the whole world of adaptive sports?
Doelling: I had zero awareness before I was injured. Then after I was injured, I remember just Googling “adaptive extreme sports” or something like that.
Miller: [Laughs] You didn’t just Google “adaptive sports.” You went straight to the “extreme?”
Doelling: Yeah [Laughs]. Honestly, that whole area has come a long way in the 15 years since I’ve been injured, as far as adaptive sports organizations, the equipment available and just the knowledge out there. So I’m very grateful for the direction it’s moving. We hope that the film can further get the information out there to people of what’s possible.
Miller: In the film, the three of you … And I should say that I mentioned that the film focuses on three people. We’ve actually talked to Anna Soens, the third participant in this film, a couple times; including just a few months ago before she competed in the Paralympic Games in Italy. So folks can find that conversation with her on our website.
The film focuses on three different really extraordinary trips that the three of you embarked on. Danielle, yours was on the White Rim Trail. Can you describe this challenge that you set for yourself?
Doelling: The White Rim Trail is in Canyonlands National Park in Utah. The full loop is a 100-mile mountain bike or a jeep trail. I think it ended up being 87 miles when I did it. But I was inspired to do that because I had done a lot of rock climbing in the Moab area, and I wanted to go back and have a reason, a mission, to accomplish with my new body. So that was my dream to go do this amazing trail.
Miller: On a hand cycle, meaning powering yourself with your arms. I wanna play an excerpt from the movie. Danielle, we’re gonna hear your voice as well as your mother’s.
[Clip from the film “Adapted” playing]
Doelling: I know everyone wants to know how excited I am about this White Rim trip, and I am so excited. But my mom has Stage 4 ovarian cancer. So in my free time, I’ve been taking her to appointments. And she had chemo this week, so she’s not feeling that well.
Doelling’s mother: She goes out to work all day, comes home and cooks for me, makes sure I eat a proper diet and get to my doctor’s appointments. It’s a lot on her.
Doelling: I need this trip. I really need this trip to remind myself to remember who I really am and what gives me joy.
[Clip ends]
Miller: Danielle, what did you mean when you said you had to remind yourself who you really were?
Doelling: Well, as you could hear from the clip, my life was really consumed with just working and taking care of my mom. I felt like I was losing that part of myself, the joyful part. This part of myself that gets fired up about making plans, having adventures and being outside. So that trip gave me this. It rejuvenated me to be able to go back home and continue to care for my mom.
Miller: Can you describe what it took physically to maneuver a hand cycle over 80 miles of challenging, muddy, dusty, steep, windy terrain?
Doelling: That’s the kind of stuff that I love [Laughter]. It was hard, but it’s like at the end of the day, when you’ve worked so hard, it just feels that much better. You get to the camp and you see this amazing view. You eat this amazing meal, and it just tastes so much better after a day of really hard work.
Miller: Josh, the film follows you on a rafting trip with a bunch of friends and other folks on the Salmon River. Why did you want to do that particular trip?
Hancock: I love rafting trips in general because they really allow me to get out into wilderness places and have fun adventures in ways that used to be really available to me. Since my injury, not so much. Rafting allows you to bring your wheelchairs, your equipment, an extra big tent and sorts of things that make life easier in the outdoors as a paraplegic.
Then I wanted to do this trip in particular because I really wanted to showcase how we were getting to interact together as friends and the different things that I needed from my friends to be able to navigate the trip. But also, the experiences and things that I could bring to them, in a reciprocal relationship.
Miller: That reminds me of an excerpt of the movie that I grabbed. So let’s listen to this and then we can talk about it. This is from the movie.
[Clip from the film “Adapted” playing]
Hancock: As much as I love the river, it’s one of the places where I’m the most dependent on other people, compared to almost anywhere else I go in the world. The campsites are usually sand. I need to get carried from the boat to my chair. I need help getting around the campsite. I can’t unload the boats. I can’t unload my bags. It puts me in a position of needing to find other ways to show up for my friends.
[Clip ends]
Miller: Josh, how do you feel about asking for help?
Hancock: It’s definitely evolved over time. One of the things I love about my friends is that I’m never around them so much that I feel too bad about asking for a lot of help. So when I go mountain biking with a buddy, it’s easy to ask for help. But within my friends, partnership and things like that, it’s harder to ask for help often. There is a balance of recognizing when I just need a hand with something and also wanting to feel like I’m offering at least as much as I’m asking for, from the people around me.
Miller: That gets to that last thing that you were saying in that clip we just heard. So what are ways that you’ve learned to show up for friends in your language?
Hancock: I think being a good listener. Giving people space to feel heard. Having a good attitude and being friendly and cheerful. That type of energy is inviting to the people around us. Partly because of my injury and partly just because of who I am, I tend to be someone who is good at kind of rolling with the punches and letting whatever our experience is, be enjoyable, even if it’s not the one we thought we were gonna get.
Miller: That’s interesting because, Danielle, it’s striking that in this film, all three of you accomplish the goals that you set out to do. In Anna’s case, it was summiting Mount Baker in the North Cascades. Josh got to the confluence of the Snake and Salmon Rivers. You did that big 80+ mile loop. And those are sort of traditional measures of success. I guess I’m curious, more broadly, what success means to you now?
Doelling: Oh, that’s a huge question. What I’ve been trying to focus on in my life lately is being present. Success for me is being present with the people around me, with my family, friends, and enjoying the moment when I do get those opportunities to be in the sun, to be in the woods. In my work, I work in health care, so being present with the people in front of me as well.
Miller: Josh, has success evolved for you? Has even just the meaning of a good day changed?
Hancock: Oh yeah, absolutely. I was 31 years old when I was injured. Before that, I was very focused on objectives. That’s, I guess, part of the mindset of a mountaineer. You want to get to the top of the mountain or you want to get there in a particular way. I got a lot of satisfaction out of doing things that seemed really difficult to me, and that inspired me. But now, I have an attitude like … one of the sayings I use all the time, “Happy is happy.” Like if you’re happy, in a given moment, you can’t really get a whole lot happier. So that’s the goal: To create the circumstances around us that let us enjoy ourselves in life and challenge us and help us grow.
So nowadays, I still love big challenges and adventures and pushing myself. But what’s more important to me is who I’m there with and what it’s like getting there. I guess, finding gratitude in all of the tiny things that come together to either get you to the top of what you’re trying to reach or not.
Miller: Paul, did working on this film and spending a lot of time with Danielle, Josh and Anna Soens affect the way you think about your own body?
Bikis: Oh man, absolutely. I live a similar lifestyle to what each of them lived before their injuries. Through this film, getting to see how they’ve been able to continue getting outdoors has really made me think … It makes me a little bit more cautious when I’m in the mountains. But it also makes me think that no matter what happens, I’ll be able to continue living life in a joyful way. It’s opened my eyes a lot to … less so about my body. I don’t think that’s really what’s changed as much as the community and the other things that are important. That’s what it’s really shown me.
Miller: Paul, Josh and Danielle, thanks very much.
Doelling: Thank you.
Bikis: Thanks for having us.
Miller: Paul Bikis is the director of the new documentary film, “Adapted.” It screens this Thursday at the Tower Theatre in Bend and next Thursday, April 30, at the Aladdin Theater in Portland. Two of the people he focused on are Josh Hancock and Danielle Doelling. Josh is an environmental engineer based in Bend. Danielle is an occupational therapist in Bend.
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