Back to Newport

After accident one man swims to help others with spinal cord injuries

Kelcy Dolan
Posted 8/20/15

Imagine how long it takes to get to Newport. A half hour? An hour with traffic? What if it took 20?

For Trent Theroux, it will take between 18 and 20 hours to swim “Back to Newport.”

In an …

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Back to Newport

After accident one man swims to help others with spinal cord injuries

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Imagine how long it takes to get to Newport. A half hour? An hour with traffic? What if it took 20?

For Trent Theroux, it will take between 18 and 20 hours to swim “Back to Newport.”

In an effort to raise $50,000 for Rise Above Paralysis, the Greater Boston Chapter of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association, Theroux will swim 40 miles, nonstop, around Aquidneck Island on Sept. 26.

Theroux, an adjunct faculty member of Johnson & Wales University and vice president of finance for Thielsch Engineering, did a similar fundraiser three years ago “Back to the Block,” where he backstroked 13 miles from Point Judith to Block Island. That swim took Theroux eight hours; for this year’s event he is more than doubling the time he will be swimming.

When Theroux finished his last swim, one of the first things he was asked was “what’s next.”

“I just wanted to celebrate what I had just accomplished,” he said. “I think in this culture you have to keep getting bigger and better. People gravitate towards what’s next.”

An eight-hour swim, nonetheless a 20-hour swim, is quite remarkable, especially considering Theroux’s past.

Swimming was always the one thing Theroux was “darn good at.” He was on both his high school and college swim teams, but after a boating accident in late 2002, there was question whether he would even be able to walk again.

On Sept. 23, 2002, while Theroux was kayaking off Nayatt Point in Barrington he went unseen by a powerboat. Trying to dive out of the way proved unsuccessful and the propeller sliced through his back, damaging many of the muscles on his left side and cutting into five bones in his spinal column. There was question if he would walk again.

“I’ve come quite a bit of ways,” Theroux said. “That’s why I do it.”

Having been in a similar position himself, Theroux has empathy and understands what it’s like to have to “reestablish a life” after tragedy. He said unlike many other injuries and conditions, spinal cord injuries change your life in an instant; there is no progression.

“It seems to be at its worst automatically,” Theroux said. “You have to ask yourself what your life is going to be like now, just how you’ll get from point A to B.”

Rise Above Paralysis offers a peer mentoring where those who have overcome and continue to live with their spinal cord injuries, to those who have just suffered one.

“It reinforces the notion that it is not a life sentence in the way we would think of it,” Theroux said.

One of Theroux’s biggest supporters is Congressman James Langevin.

“Trent Theroux’s story of courage, dedication and personal triumph is an inspiration,” Langevin said. “In the face of an incredible challenge, he fought his way back through rehabilitation and walked out of the hospital on his own. Now he continues that fight on behalf of all who struggle to come to terms and adapt to life with paralysis.”

All the money raised by Theroux will go directly to Rise Above Paralysis to help in purchasing adaptive technology for those with spinal cord injuries.

Langevin said, “Adaptive technologies changed my life and allowed me to pursue my dreams and run for Congress. I congratulate Trent for his tireless efforts in bringing those same life-changing technologies to others.”

Langevin was on the beach when Theroux finished Back to Block three years ago as well.

Theroux said when he first touched the beach, after hours of swimming, “All that hard work was so satisfying.” Hearing the applause and seeing such appreciative faces all around felt “sensational.”

Although he did his last swim completely in backstroke to symbolize his back injury, the 40-mile swim around Aquidneck Island will require him to use both backstroke and freestyle swimming. He will have kayakers and boats following him along the swim as to ensure other boats don’t come near him and to give him food and water. Throughout the day he will have to consume nearly 9,000 calories to remain neutral.

Theroux will eat and drink every half hour, but is unable to rest or receive any other help from the boats. He floats on his back while eating and drinking.

To practice for his 40-mile fundraising effort, Theroux swims five times a week and lifts two, as well as eats four meals a day with snacks. He is treating his training the same way a runner would prepare for a marathon, slowly building up the stamina.

“Hopefully, by the end someone has a cold beer waiting for me,” Theroux said.

Theroux will begin the swim at 7 a.m. at Fort Adams, swimming around the island counter-clockwise, ending at Bowen Warf at 1 a.m. the next morning. As it will take an estimated 20 hours to circumnavigate the island, he will be swimming with the tides sometime and against it at other times.

For more information or to donate to the cause visit Theroux’s website at www.backtonewport.org.

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