Sonia Godet is a Canadian curling player, a three-time winner of the Paralympic Games. The difficult trials that fell to her lot did not break this courageous woman. Optimism, fortitude and fortitude helped Sonya to be reborn for a new life, albeit not similar to the previous one, but not without its victories and triumphs.
Biography: childhood and family
Sonia was born July 22, 1966 in North Vancouver, British Columbia. Before her marriage, she bore the surname Melis. Abraham and Joanna Melis had four children. Sonya grew up surrounded by two older sisters and a younger brother. Her parents were immigrants; in 1962 they moved to Canada from the Netherlands. The family settled in North Vancouver - this part of Vancouver, separated by Burrard Bay, has the status of a municipality and its own administration.
At home in the Netherlands, Abraham Melis served in the Royal Navy and the National Police. The head of the family was an athlete, played football when he lived in the Netherlands, and in Canada switched to boxing and softball. The example of his father inspired Sonya from an early age to devote time to physical activity. She loved swimming, skiing and cycling, playing volleyball, tennis, softball, basketball.
Severe injury and new life
Until the fateful day in 1997, Sonya's biography was quite ordinary: an established personal life, family, home, children. She and her husband Dan Godt settled in Vernon, located in the picturesque Okanagan Valley in the south of the British Columbia region. Sonya gave birth to a son Colten and a daughter Alisha, she was engaged in a house and children. She did not abandon her sports hobbies, but on the contrary, added new ones to them - horseback riding.
Horseback riding was the cause of an accident that forever changed the life of a young woman. Her horse reared up and tumbled back with his rider. Sonya received a severe spinal cord injury, due to which she remained paralyzed below the chest line. Mrs. Godet vaguely remembers her fall from the horse, as well as the days of stay in the hospital. The main stimulus for the return to life was her young children, who were 3 and 6 years old.
In the face of limited opportunities, Sonya had to re-learn many familiar things and actions. In addition to her husband and loved ones, Paralympic athlete Rick Hansen helped her a lot. In Canada, he is known not only for his sporting achievements, but also for his great contribution to creating an accessible environment for the disabled. Hansen shared with Sonya both experience in overcoming domestic difficulties and adaptive opportunities for playing sports. Three years after the injury, Godet returned to an active lifestyle. She learned to play basketball in a new way, swim, ski, took up rowing and curling.
In her city, Sonya became the Rick Hansen Foundation Ambassador, who is creating an accessible sports environment for people with disabilities. Thanks to her efforts, basketball lessons for wheelchairs were organized in Vernon.
