TOJO Lazzari doesn’t remember much about the accident that took away his arm earlier this year. One thing he does know is that losing a limb has not meant he will lose out on living his life to the full.
He is determined to open an outdoor pursuits rehabilitation centre, where people with amputations and other disabilities can come and learn the skills of adventure sports.
At the weekend, he moved one step closer to that dream by trying out a specialist prosthetic arm designed to allow Tojo to return to his passion for kayaking. He hopes that with this arm, he will be able to pursue another long held ambition, kayaking the length of the Shannon.
“I went out in the water for the first time in ages on Friday in Kilcolgan testing out the prosthetic and it went really well. It was quite painful, I will have to wait until my arm is a bit stronger before I get good at kayaking again but I have high hopes,” he told The Clare Champion.
Tojo moved to Caherhurley in East Clare from Stoke-on-Trent in England in 1999 with his family. After attending Scariff Community College he went on to follow his dream to become an outdoor pursuits instructor, studying at the Lough Allen Adventure Centre in Leitrim.
The epitome of the ‘outdoorsy type’, Tojo has tried every adventure pursuit imaginable from kayaking to archery and was even chosen as the poster boy for Leitrim tourism.
In September 2008, he gained a place on the BA in Outdoor Education at GMIT in Castlebar. On his way home to study for exams just days after his 21st birthday, Tojo was involved in a crash that would change his life forever.
A keen motorcyclist, Tojo had just left Castlebar on his bike when a tractor pulled out in front of him.
“I was leaving to go down to Clare to study for the week and practice my guitar. I went about ten miles down the road and the tractor pulled out in front of me. It’s hard to explain because it’s hard to remember exactly what happened. I just remember waking up on the ground and being told there had been an accident,” he recalled.
Tojo lost his right arm, fractured three vertebrae in his lower back, one vertebra in his neck and broke two ribs.
Amazingly, a determined Tojo spent just over three weeks in hospital recovering from his injuries.
“I healed up nice and quickly. I was seriously determined to get out of hospital really quickly. I was in bed going through operations and having loads of drugs pumped into me. After two weeks I started trying to walk. The first time I sat out of the bed that was all I could do. Then the next day I took a couple of steps, then another day I took a lap of the room, then I did ten laps. After that I started sneaking out to the park and I went to the cinema,” he tells us with a smile.
Tojo attributes his quick recovery in hospital to his positive attitude. “I haven’t felt down about this too much, it’s just a challenge to me. I’ve always been known for being positive. Even before the accident, I was always happy out and being positive certainly helped in my recovery.
“At first it was tough enough, but I had a lot of friends and family looking out for me, I was well looked after. I’m fine and can pretty much do everything I used to now except for the adventure sports,” he said.
Tojo is determined to get back into the water and return to kayaking, as well as other adventure sports. Friday’s testing of the prosthetic was the first step towards this.
Over the past few months, he has been raising funds for the special prosthetic which has been designed by Galway-based prosthetic company APOS.
“When I came to getting a prosthetic I had two options, to go to Dun Laoghire or go to APOS. I didn’t go to Dun Laoghire because it’s like going back into hospital and you stay there until your prosthetic is made. I wanted to go home after it all. I had meetings with APOS where we went through the design, and while they hadn’t made one of these before, two of the people who work there are kayakers so they know the motions I would have to achieve,” he said.
Once Tojo is back kayaking full time, he is hoping to get other prosthetic arms that will enable him to continue outdoor pursuits. When he has once again mastered these sports using his artificial arm, he will be on his way to realising his dream of opening a rehabilitation centre.
“I’ve got lots of plans for the future. Before my accident I was working with a group of young kids who were surviving cancer and that was way more fun than teaching outdoor pursuits to any other group. I have always liked helping people. I want to be able to open a rehabilitation centre with outdoor pursuits for people who have lost limbs. I believe that taking part in outdoor pursuits is definitely therapeutic.
“When I used to work at the centre in Leitrim we used to have wilderness therapy weekends, which were all very relaxing, getting one with nature and all that. It’s great to be out in the country in the fresh air, it’s all good for you.”
A fundraising concert was held in Scariff recently and other events are scheduled to be held in the area in the future. A charity calendar has also been launched and is available in outlets throughout the county. Donations to the fund can be made to Bank of Ireland, Scariff account number 53813320.