Paralympic gold medalist and Langley native Lauren Barwick is speaking out about the workplace accident that paralyzed her nine years ago.

She is telling her story on behalf of the new non-profit society, The Community Against Preventable Injuries. The group’s focus is to highlight preventable injuries. This is the second in a series.

It was supposed to be an average day at work for Lauren Barwick.

The 22-year-old worked on a studio ranch in Mission that provided horses for TV and movie shoots. It was a job she had fought hard to get.

June 17, 2000, started out like any other day. Her first task was to feed the horses. Barwick had taken the previous week off work, so she was surprised to see a 10-foot tall tower of hay. Someone had taken the bales from the bottom, rather than the top.

With each bale weighing about 100 pounds, Barwick couldn’t get one free from the bottom. Alone and worried about getting the job done,she decided not to call for help.

Instead, she climbed to the top of the stack to loosen one of the wedged bales. At that point she realized the stack was unsteady and she jumped down.

As she landed, one of the hay bales fell from the top and landed on her back, knocking her face first onto the barn floor. Suddenly, she had no feeling below her stomach.

The hay bale had shattered her T11 and T12 vertebrae and severed her spinal cord — Barwick would be paralyzed for the rest of her life.

Nine years later, a metal bar, three screws and a wire mesh make up Barwick’s reconstructed vertebrae.

The vibrant 31-year-old has become a champion rider. She has competed in dozens of international shows, including the 2004 Paralympics in Athens and the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing, where she won both silver and gold medals.

Barwick wishes she would have gone to her boss and asked for help that day.

“My job was very competitive and I always felt that I had something to prove. My boss was very temperamental; I did not feel comfortable going to him for help,” she said.

“Life is worth more than a simple job. Think smart instead of trying to prove something. I would have rather lost my job, have risked being yelled at by my boss if I had ever thought the outcome could have been a disability for the rest of my life,” she said.

“No amount of money is worth your health or life. What good is money if you aren’t around to spend it, and enjoy life to its fullest? A job/career is supposed to help you have a better quality of life — not take away from it. I wish I had a better understanding of how to communicate with my employers without them thinking less of me, or thinking it was confrontational.

She advises people to be aware of their surroundings.

She also suggests speaking up for safety and self-preservation and making sure you are trained properly for the job.

“I train horses and am around them every day, all day long. If someone is not feeling well, we ask them to go home and get better or do a office job, as it is important for everyone’s safety that they feel 100 per cent,” she said.

Barwick has achieved more than most people have since her accident.

“I enjoy life but there is not a day that goes by that I don’t wonder how life would have been if I still had legs to walk and run,” she said.

“I still do active things, but safety comes first. I don’t hold onto the past, but I do wish I could take that day

back.”