Poison to Pride

By Kenny Wittmann

Four years ago after a month sitting in rehabilitation for my second leg operation, it was time to get my cast off and put my foot in a brace. I was transferred from Bloorview Kids Rehab Center over to Sunnybrook Hospital to get my new brace. The options for a design on my new brace were very limited considering it was for the liking of younger kids. There were cars, Disney characters, trucks, fish etc. Finally I found one that looked somewhat suitable for an 18 year old teenager. I chose the pirate symbol that had a flag with the skull and crossbones logo. It was as tough as I was going to get.

Four years later now in 2018, the brace was holding up but a lot of the Velcro straps got weary and teary on me and I had to go back to Bloorview to get new straps. The new straps looked fantastic and I had a sense of a new and improved brace. I looked at the back of my brace and my heart sank a little bit. The design on the back didn’t suit me anymore and with the changes I made with the Velcro, I knew more had to be done. I love the fitting of my brace and getting a new one is expensive and a lot of work. I am horrible at drawing or artwork so I took my idea of a new design to social media to see if anyone wanted to make me a new design or had any suggestions. To me the skull and crossbones meant “poison” now. I’ve done enough WHIMIS training in my time to understand that. I didn’t want my brace to represent poison anymore; I needed more meaning with my disability. After all, I wear this leg brace everywhere, and I wanted to represent myself and my disability in a more positive way.

2 months went by and finally someone messaged me, a good friend of mine who I have known since high school.  As I was well aware of his interest in becoming a tattoo artist, I knew he was the right person for the job. I gave him some structure on what I thought I needed on my brace. My passion for golf was a start, and my love for urbanized culture. I wanted to have the CN tower and Toronto on there as well as it is my favourite city. My buddy never turned his head and accepted the challenge of designing me a brace.

He started with drawings and sketches and countless hours of developing a template for me. I received countless photos of his drawings through text from him. I was totally impressed with the imagination and ideas he came up with. I gave him no help at all with the design. I just gave him an idea of what I wanted and he delivered the rest. After the final drawing he gave me an idea of how he could stick the design on my brace. He said he could make it into a vinyl print and have an adhesive to take it off of and stick it on. This tuned out to be brilliant idea and if anything got damaged he could just print it off again and stick on. I see it as a removable tattoo. It’s pretty flipping cool man. None of my friends have gone out of their way for me like this in my life. I knew I had his full support for my golf career on the Paragolf Ontario Tour and just as a human being. We have always gone to full lengths of support for each other. After all, that just what friends are meant to do? Actions speak louder than words and he displayed that in a very unique way. I’ll never be able to express my thanks to him.

Shade Gagne is his name, and he is an apprentice at our local tattoo shop in Georgetown, ON. The tattoo shop is called “Sideshow Tattoos & Piercings”.  It’s been here for a long time at 43 Guelph St. I encourage anyone from around the area who wants a tattoo to go there and trust all the amazing staff and apprentices. I’m sure after viewing the photos I share at the bottom of this article, you would feel confident in any design you choose.

Well, there you have it folks. I just thought I would write this article to show how amazing humanity can be. People can really help you out if you have the right people. I knew I needed something to embrace who I am as a golfer and an individual. I wanted to show that my disability is a part of who I am and my accomplishments I’ve achieved despite having Cerebral Palsy.  I will continue to embrace who I am and I always support everyone in my life, because we are all human and at the end of the day, we are all just living one day at a time trying to build something with our lives. With the help of this design, I have managed to go from poison to pride.

For more of Shade Gagne’s work please visit his Instagram page! @shade_signed

Kenny Wittmann

April 16, 2018