Yves Vionnet – His story

TEXT: COCO TÂCHE-BERTHER & NICOLE KRANZ

HE SMILED AND THE WORLD SMILED BACK ! PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY STRONG, WITH A SUCCESSFUL PROFESSIONAL AND PRIVATE LIFE, HE NEVERTHELESS ALWAYS ASPIRED TO SOMETHING MORE. ONE SNOWBOARDING ACCIDENT LATER, HIS EXISTENCE WOULD BE TURNED UPSIDE-DOWN AND HIS LIFE WOULD NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN.

Because of the potentially suspect weather, on April 10th instead of going to the west coast surfing with his friends, Yves Vionnet decided to spend one last day riding in Marécottes. In a whiteout and in deep snow on his last run he took a line that took him onto a chalet roof. With too much run-up and too much speed, he was thrown forward headfirst. He landed on his head with the full weight of his body and equipment coming down on it. There was, he says, a loud and terrible crack. He called out to his friends for help and thankfully, despite not being able to see him, they could hear his calls. “That day I became someone with a destiny different to other people’s”.“That day it was in all my interests to immediately accept the situation !” His friends rushed to help, but were unable to move him and because of the bad weather, it was impossible for the air ambulance to get up the mountain to help him either. The rescue services did what they could, to the best of their abilities. “Wrapped in a vacuum mattress, I could see my car from the top of the chairlift and thought about my four o’clock tea, a cake and an ice-tea, that were waiting for me in the car and I was looking forward to eat”. It was hard for Yves to acknowledge that his body was not responding. “Solitude overcame me when I was in the ambulance with no friends or family around me, just the ambulance man was there. He even made me laugh”.His first operation was at the University Hospital of Lausanne. Verdict : fracture between vertebrae 6 and 7. The surgeons stabilised the fracture and decompressed the spinal marrow. Yves heard the dreaded words… “You have quadriplegic lesions”, but then a light at the end of the tunnel, “but since you are in good physical shape, there is a chance you might recover”. He clung to that one word : “RECOVER”.However, medical oversights worsened his condition : needless pneumonia and an arterial rupture that went to his brain, almost suffocating him, but resulting in him fainting, added to other complications, kept him in intensive care for 10 long days. Once ready to move, he was sent to Nottwil, the Swiss Paraplegic Centre by helicopter. The perfection of this imposing, modern building is complemented by lush, green vegetation that spills over into a clear-watered lake. The idyllic setting is not what it seems. “I had more fun at military school” he reflects, “you aren’t there to recover, but to learn to live in a wheelchair”. Tough words and a tough adjustment. “Thankfully, there were some great times that I shared with my family, friends and roommate. My two physios were also really devoted”. He would stay at Nottwil for 7 months.Not content with living in a chair though ; he was looking for total recovery. Voluntarily cutting himself off from the world, only his family and a handful of friends saw him while he went in search of hope outside Switzerland. Incessant searches on the computer, treatments on the other side of the world, optimistic testimonies : the process had begun.“Switzerland hadn’t developed anything in terms of
recovery. I had to go and look elsewhere, where medicine focused on this subject.” His journey began in Mumbai, India. He dived into Ayurvedic medicine, notably Panchakarma – a powerful way of cleansing the body of all impurities and reconstructing pure cells. This was an internal voyage for him too ; and one which Yves took all the way, giving him a spirituality and helping him strengthen his moral. After his second visit and with no physical improvement apparent, he decided to continue his quest in another land. In Lisbon, he became the first Swiss person to undergo an operation to have olfactory cells grafted onto the spinal marrow. Directly after this, he started intensive training at a specialised centre : “Walk the Line” in Southfield, a small town near Detroit, Michigan. Through a process that activates the central nervous system, signs of improvement were quickly felt. “It was by repeating movements and creating a language between my brain and the limb I wanted to move, that we started to see results. I actually felt nothing myself, but my educators could see development in certain muscles to give me better stability in the torso. During my first hours at the centre, I took a big hit. My nervous system had been so worked, that I couldn’t even form a sentence to talk to my girlfriend on Skype !” But, after only two weeks, the improvements meant he could move into a hotel, regaining a certain amount of autonomy. “After six months, my noticeable progress caused a stir amongst the trainers. This stay was a revelation. I became friends with some extraordinary people and the six months of hardcore effort all made sense. I had to carry on. I often have the same dream. I clearly see myself standing up out of my chair and walking. It is so vivid that I know it’ll happen one day”. Back in Switzerland it was the full on, unyielding regime of three hourly sessions, four times a week with a coach that gave Yves back some movement in his legs, more solid abs and the ability to feel temperature changes throughout his body.Today Yves Vionnet is completely independent. He has treated himself to the pleasure of driving an Audi Quattro, has fun tearing up the hills or the lakeside on his Mountain Handybike and spends time with people who are in the same position as him. Yves gives a lot more than just hope, he shares a philosophy and a methodology built on his wide personal experience. Giving to others what was given to him ; Yves delivers this with passion. “I take people who are in distress on an honest path where the disillusionment with traditional medicine disappear in place of recovery work”.“With hindsight, it was certainly a painful journey and one which I never thought I would have to endure. On the flip side, this event has brought me so many positives, that ten years on, I need to lend an ear to others. When I was a kid, I used to dream of sending trucks loaded with provisions to Africa. Perhaps my accident is my way of fulfilling a dream of helping those in need. The Swiss Recovery Center, which I hope to open soon, is a universal message that should extend beyond our borders.” Wisdom, courage, objectivity and generosity are words to describe this man. Thank you Yves ! You are a life lesson !