Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

Written by Bikash Chapagain – PDA Member and Guest Blogger

My name is Bikash Chapagain. 45 years ago (in 1979) I was born in Nepal, a small landlocked mountainous country between China and India. I still remember my childhood memories. Nostalgia always haunts me. It is pretty normal in one’s life, isn’t it?

As a child, my four limbs, feet and hands were a little weak, however, I was strong enough to walk and run. At the age of five, I was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy. At the age of thirteen, I could not walk at all. There was no hydrotherapy treatment in Nepal but with the support of a life jacket, I was able to walk and float in the normal swimming pool (non heated). 

Whilst studying my Bachelor’s degree at the age of twenty in Nepal, I read the essay “The Declaration of Independence” by Thomas Jefferson. I used to contemplate and was very much touched by the lines: “all men/women are born equal. Life, liberty and pursuit of happiness are the three inevitable human rights endowed by nature.”

Sitting in my manual wheelchair, I always used to be astonished by these words and what these basic, fundamental and universal human rights meant for my life!

Twelve and half years ago, I received the Australian Government’s Endeavour Vocational Education and Training Award to pursue a Diploma of Community Services Work at Southbank, Brisbane. It was during this time that I discovered a wheelchair accessible, heated swimming pool. In July 2014, I was involved in a terrible motor vehicle accident in front of PA Hospital in Brisbane that put me in hospital recovery for nearly 4 months. For encouragement and motivation in life, I used to attend professional development training and resilience in Brisbane. This helped me to cope with my physical condition, excruciating back pain and challenged mental state.

In 2015, I got 4 appointments via Medicare for hydrotherapy. The hydrotherapist, Michael, inspired me and assisted me to walk without a life jacket and independently (but under supervision). I gained so much more confidence to walk in the heated pool with its comfortable temperature of around 32 degrees celsius. Brisbane Lions Club also gifted me a 7 day pass, whilst PA Hospital’s hydrotherapy and Mater Hospital’s physio also provided me with sessions of hydrotherapy.

Despite my physical disability, I am grateful for the wheelchair accessible infrastructures offered in the heated pool – such as the waterproof wheelchair, ramp and disability friendly bathroom. These gave me the opportunity and ability to access the pool with the assistance of my physio or, on some days, just my wife. I was also able to be independent in the bathroom to shower and to transfer and get dressed.

In 2018, I became an NDIS participant and started getting support workers. In my time with them, it’s always my preference to attend a heated pool, to walk there and to learn how to swim and enjoy playing beachball in the pool. From June 2018 until today, it is with the support of NDIS that I can go to a heated pool almost everyday.

I can now swim independently. Swimming has helped me to better understand my back pain, body pain and how to deal with my stress, anxiety and depression. Swimming is supporting me to cope with and beat my physical and mental conditions.

My two children and my wife are also good swimmers. My own personal experience has been instrumental in living my life to the full, and I recommend hydrotherapy as a great blessing and boon for everyone, from all walks of life – even small kids, elderly people, pregnant women and people with limitations of neuro motor skills like muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy and spinal cord injuries too. I have even noticed that many people with visual impairments, hearing impairments and intellectual disabilities also enjoy swimming. I am so appreciative to have been introduced to swimming and to have it play such a big role in my everyday life and a life that I always advocate and stand for. Swimming has broadened my horizon and widened my perception of life.

I will be grateful for my swimming until I take my last breath. Swimming is my faith, my belief in life. When I stand and walk in water, I call it life. When I swim independently, I call it liberty. And when I relax in water and my skills and amazing buoyancy allow me to float independently, I call it pursuit of happiness.

Together, these attributes bring me achievement, meaningful purpose and help me to live an extraordinary life.