Canadian Bruce Cook becomes first paraplegic to backflip on a motorcycle

Decked out in his bright white, green and blue outfit, his heart pumping and his body strapped to his motorcycle, Bruce Cook goes up the ramp, flips upside down and lands cleanly on the other side.

And with that, the 28-year-old sets a new record – becoming the first paraplegic to successfully backflip a motorcycle.

The Kelowna, B.C. native completed the feat earlier this month in front of a packed house at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

Watch Cook perform the stunt at his Nitro Circus perfomance in the video (stunt begins at 1:20):

“It was great to succeed after failing so badly,” said Cook, recalling how he felt after sticking the landing, in a phone interview with Yahoo Canada.

Things went very, very badly the last time the freestyle motocross star tried to set a record.

The athlete was attempting a record-setting double-front flip on his bike at Copps Coliseum (now named FirstOntario Centre) in Hamilton on Jan. 3, 2014.

He went up off the ramp and it looked like he was going to make the record books, but then his bike slammed into the mats and he flew off, landing hard on his back. He reportedly said to the first person who ran over to him: “I can’t feel my legs.”

Just a few days later he was in a Hamilton hospital bed and told local media at the time he hoped he would walk again.

That was not to be.

When he crashed his bike, he broke his T-11 vertebrae and damaged his spinal cord, according to a press release. He went through extensive medical treatments at several facilities, but is now mainly confined to a wheelchair and is paralyzed from the waist down. He has not let this limit what he can do.

Days after crashing and falling off his bike he woke up in his hospital bed following surgery and thought: “I’m going to get back on my bike again, you know, like getting back in the saddle again?” Cook recalled.

Nine months later he did just that.

These days he’s back out on his bike on a North American tour, which stops in Winnipeg on Oct. 28, Saskatoon on Oct. 30 and in Vancouver on Nov.1, then continues in the U.S., wrapping up in Las Vegas on Nov. 21.

He’s looking forward to performing for friends and family in Vancouver, but readily admits some of them are not that pleased that he’s back on the bike. His bike has been modified with a cage around his legs and a seatbelt that straps him in, which means there’s no bailing on a trick at the last minute. While he understands the concerns of those close to him, being on his bike is a life-long passion he doesn’t want to give up.

He grew up on a 60-acre farm in British Columbia and first got on a dirtbike at the tender age of four. He eventually became a professional freestyle motocross athlete in 2005 and hasn’t looked back.

While his life got turned upside down after he crashed he’s kept spirits up, posting messages on social media that range from the wry (“I still wear running shoes to the gym. #pointless”) to the inspirational (“Regardless of the glass being half full or half empty - fill it up and get on with it.”)

While many in Cook’s position would likely see the glass as half empty, that’s not his style. In the face of a life-changing injury he’s been focusing on what he can do, not on what he can’t.

He doesn’t know what he’ll do further down the road of life, but he knows being on his bike will likely be part of his future.

“I’m just kind of going with it,” said Cook while out on tour. “I’m gaining confidence. I’ll keep going with this and see what happens.”