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Climber Karen's story of courage told in new book
By Brian Coates FROM the depths of despair Karen Darke rose to achieve amazing feats of endurance which has culminated in her first book.
If You Fall . . . It's A New Beginning charts the life of 35-year-old Karen since she was paralysed in a climbing accident aged 21.
The keen mountaineer thought her life of adventure was over when she was paralysed from the chest down in Scotland at the time she was studying for a PhD in geology at the University of Aberdeen.
But since then she has overcome the odds to take part in expeditions by hand-cycle, ski and kayak in the Scottish islands, the Himalayas, Hawaii and Alaska.
And during the summer she became the first paralysed woman to cross Greenland by ski when she joined a team of explorers completing a 600km traverse of Greenland's Ice Cap.
Her book starts with her plunge from cliffs at the village of Cove onto rocks.
"I plummeted from the cliff and into a void. I don't remember anything, no pain. Nothing. Just darkness,'' she wrote.
Karen, who was brought up in Mytholmroyd, then spent several weeks lying in a hospital bed pondering the future and hoping for a miracle. She turned to crystal healing, spiritualism and even put herself under the knife of a controversial spirit surgeon.
When all hope failed of her walking again she found the strength to accept herself as she was.
People became amazed at her determination and the idea of her book was born.
"The core of my message is difficult things happen to all of us but if we put our minds to certain issues the power of the human spirit helps get us through those difficulties.''
The accident also shaped her career as Karen now runs Inspire and Impact offering positive impact speaking and training. She also founded Interventure, a charity which develops opportunities for disabled people to participate in adventure sports and outdoor activities.
Karen now lives in Grantown-on-Spey, Scotland, and her parents, Mike and Chris Darke, live at Midgley Road, Mytholmroyd.
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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