Here's to Life: and all that jazz

Dave MacCalman is a jazz lover, a gold medal winning Paralympian, and a marathon champion with domestic and world records. He has filled his 60-plus years with energy and adventure. In 1980, Dave's future was already looking bright, and he was on track to become one of New Zealand's most accomplished basketball stars. The twenty-one-year-old was on scholarship at college in the US, when a day swimming with friends ended in the fracture and compression of two vertebrae at the base of his neck, and a new life began. Returning to New Zealand a wheelchair user, Dave never stopped long enough to think: why me? Instead, he picked up his athletic career where it left off, committing himself to the rigours of training and competing, while his wounded soul was soothed by his love of jazz. Tom Hyde is a former senior writer and Deputy Editor of Metro magazine, and winner of a prestigious Qantas award for feature writing. He is currently a regular contributor to World magazine and The Cut.