Finding His Sea Legs Tyler's journey to the 2022 Paralympics
2020 Local Heroes Documentary Edition
Funded

Finding His Sea Legs Tyler's journey to the 2022 Paralympics

Double amputee uplifts and inspires his community all while training for a chance at the 2022 Paralympics.

Length35:00
GenreDocumentary

Pitch video

Synopsis

Tyler Turner has always lived his life to the fullest, and hasn't let losing both his legs to a skydiving accident slow him down at all. Through the support of his community, family, and friends Tyler has continued his life of adventure and fun hogging by just adapting as he goes. He is now training as a hopeful for the 2022 winter Paralympics in the sport of snowboarding. That same community that was there for him after his accident is there again supporting this new dream. Tyler gives just as much back to his community as they have given him. His presence and willingness to push that much harder is a source of inspiration for the people around him to see past the limitations they have set for themselves.


Production

Interview Roster

Angie Farquharson
Angie Farquharson

Co-owner of Kindred Snowboards. Tyler and Angie met up Mount Washington when Angie was running events, years ago. Angie has been a constant supporter in Tyler’s life since his accident, not only through her company, Kindred, but as a no-questions asked friend. Angie and Evan took Tyler’s companion, Kirra, in for 6 months while Tyler was in the hospital and in rehab.

Cody Thompson
Cody Thompson

Tyler’s adventure buddy. Cody and Tyler have been through a lot together. Cody got severely electrocuted years ago and Tyler was there for him then. Cody returned the favor without hesitation and slept in the hospital for the first month. He’s a yes man and someone who never once doubted Tyler’s abilities, even at his lowest. Cody’s unconditional friendship was a huge motivator to help Tyler back on snow.

Kate Ediger
Kate Ediger

Kate started as a colleague at K3 catskiing in Revelstoke, but quickly became a lifelong friend. Kate is not only a badass snowboarder, but a caring, motherly friend that wanted Tyler to succeed again. Tyler braved getting onto snow for the first time after his accident with Kate by his side.

Tyler Turner
Tyler Turner

Tyler has one of those electric personalities, you can’t stop listening to his stories of jumping out of airplanes, surviving a life altering accident, and getting back to life on two prosthetic legs. Ultimately, you can’t help but want to be friends with him. The snowboarding community has been a huge part of his mental and physical recovery, especially now that he’s chasing a Paralympic medal. Tyler’s relationship with the snowboarding community is symbiotic, as his character adds a lifeforce that inspires others to push past physical and mental pain to pursue their passions on the snow.

Evan Fair
Evan Fair

Childhood friend and co-owner of Kindred Snowboards. Evan’s friendship used to involve a lot of hucking themselves off of jumps on their snowboards but now revolves around the Kindred Custom Snowboard workshop, innovating, designing, and building custom shaped snowboards for Tyler and his new needs with prosthetic legs.

Kayleen VanderRee
Kayleen VanderRee

Tyler’s number one supporter; Kayleen stayed around after his accident despite only having dated him a couple of months. She is the reason why he is where he is today -- thriving. She initiated him to the ‘sea’ life and taught him the love of sailing while supporting him through his darkest lows, as graciously as can be.

Production Design

Tyler's friends are what elevated him back "on his legs" and without their support, it is hard to say what would have happened to him. Jason is our common friend and the nicest guy on the planet, so patient! We road tripped together when I captured this moment.
Tyler and Kayleen's life look like this! Add up a few snowboards on deck, snowflakes falling and that is what his upcoming winter will look like as he is training for the 2022 Paralympics locally due to COVID restrictions and will be training on Mount Washington, in his own backyard!
Friends on power days or good wave days always make the experience better. Tyler would not be able to recreate and practice the sport he loves without the support of his friends.
Without the local help, Tyler would not have had access to this fantastic vehicle custom made for him to retrieve his freedom for adventure. Another testimony of the community love for him! This moment specifically is just random but capture well the "strange look and lifestyle" he lives!
This is not staged at all, nothing that we shoot together is! We genuinely walked by this sign: share the road with the upper visual of legs! Another subtle testimony of what it means to be an integrated community, people help each other and share the road!
100% They live on their sailboat and this is the 4th time in a row their transmission broke. I capture the entire boat rescue and their domestic dispute which was a true statement of their real nature.