Hub Staff

Parapan Am, Paralympic and Boston Marathon record holder, Burgoyne’s Josh Cassidy, spoke of “true happiness”, detachment and life-changing anecdotes at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre in Owen Sound December 17 to a crowd of true fans.

For two hours Cassidy engaged the crowd of approximately 60 people through multi-media, sharing stories of personal success, devastating failures and what the wheelchair racer and medal holder has come to grips with from his many cathartic experiences on the world stage.

Cassidy asked the crowd the existential question of why are we here, which became the focus of his talk.

“We are all here for happiness and since I’ve found that, I just wanted to share it with everyone here and to help find your own purpose.” Cassidy said he has learned that the key to happiness is perspective and “how we choose to look at things”.

“We all have disabilities but we all have the potential to be Olympians and it doesn’t matter how old you are because it’s all about frame of mind.”

Cassidy explained the strength he gained from personal failures, equating it to an emotional vortex; that you can either go up or down. You can get trapped in a downward spiral but if you believe in yourself and work hard you can get out of the vortex.

“I’m proud of the medals, there are ones that I don’t have that I would like, they mean everything but they mean nothing at the same time. Those are moments of time that were a success but those aren’t medals of the failure that helped me learn and grow and get more,” said Cassidy.

Following his presentation Cassidy greeted a long line-up of fans taking the time to pose for pictures, explain his thoughts and get to know new fans like Wesley Brown from Meaford.

The sports fan came to the event with his grandmother, long-time Cassidy fan, Paula Luce, who wanted her grandson to get to know the athlete. She explained that she and Cassidy once raced together.

“We raced together in Chicago… but of course he was in the front and I was in the back,” said Luce.

Bernadette Mervyn of Bognor and her family know Cassidy from his days as a Cadet and wanted to show up and support him as she says he supported them through their son Corey’s surgery in 2013.

Cassidy will spend the next year training for the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro. The 31 year old doesn’t know if that will be his last Paralympic experience but does know that when his post racing career becomes a reality he will focus on writing a book and continuing his career as a motivational speaker.