MARK Hopkins, 51, loves skiing and snowboarding. He enjoys both activities so much that he has already been to Grouse Mountain more than 151 times this year.
"I think I am in the fittest condition of my life," he said. "I can't get enough."
Hopkins is a ski and snowboard instructor with Vancouver Adaptive Snow Sports (VASS), a non-profit organization that organizes skiing and snowboarding lessons and programs for people with a physical or mental disability. Staff members, and instructors like Hopkins, are all volunteers and are not paid.
On March 8, Hopkins participated in the fifth annual VASS Cup at Grouse Mountain. The event is a fun, nontraditional race that celebrates the power of human spirit.
"The VASS Cup is always so spectacular because it gives all the people that come out to it a chance to see what can happen," the five-time participant said. "It gets bigger and better."
In the VASS Cup three able-bodied skiers or snowboarders are joined by an individual with a disability to create a team. Each team member is required to complete two runs down the course set up on the mountain. While many traditional races are based on speed, the VASS Cup calculates the winners based on consistency.
For skier and first-time participant Hersh Abramson, the VASS Cup was an incredible experience.
"I enjoyed it. There are a lot of good people here helping each other and rooting them on," he said. "They took some pictures of me in the starting gate and going through the starting gate and going down the course. I've got some great memories."
Skiing and snowboarding was not always Hopkins' big passion. As a teenager and young adult Hopkins loved theatre and acting. He attended the University of British Columbia for theatre and after he graduated in 1985 he began getting involved in different areas of acting.
"I got into the world of doing theatre, touring, shows and lots of film and TV work," he said. According to Hopkins he had minor memory problems when he was in university but said it wasn't until the late 1980s when things got worse.
"I went to the doctors and said there is something more going here than I just can't remember my lines," he said. Doctors said because he was a new father that he was just going through a stressful part of life. In 1993 Hopkins eventually went to a neurologist where it was discovered that there was something more serious going on in his brain.
"They gave me a scan and found a tumour," he said. "It is the scariest thing in the whole wide world for someone to say you've got a brain tumour." In 1995 he underwent successful surgery to remove the tumour. However, life provided more challenges for Hopkins.
"It was a lot of high anxiety for a long time," he said. "My marriage didn't survive it." Hopkins went on disability leave from 1995 until 1998 and was able to return to work until he received more bad news.
"In 2001 I went in for my annual MRI and the tumour was back." The former Sutherland and Argyle secondary student was crushed.
"It was a pretty big letdown," Hopkins said. "I was just sitting in the office and I had to walk outside to break down so it didn't happen in the office. It was really hard to see it come back so fast so unexpectedly."
After receiving the news he underwent a second round of successful surgery to remove the tumour. Hopkins went on another two years of disability leave before finding out that he wouldn't be able to return to work anymore. He spent the next four years attending group support sessions and learned that he was not alone in his fight.
"You feel like you are the only person that it has ever happened to and then you go to a meeting and you are in a room with 14 other people that are in the same boat you are," he said.
Then in 2005 the president of VASS came out to a brain injury support group that Hopkins had been attending in New Westminster. That's when he first found out about VASS.
"It was just a match made in heaven and I have been a skiing addict ever since," he said. "I am in a place I never ever felt would be possible to get to again."
During his first year with VASS, Hopkins learned how to ski. In his second year, he became an instructor and the following year he learned how to snowboard.
He represented VASS at the provincial championships in 2007 and in 2012 where he won gold and silver as a skier. He then became a race coach. Today, Hopkins teaches six different classes with VASS.
"It's made everything and anything possible and it just keeps happening." Hopkins even teaches students after the VASS season is over.
"I love it. I am learning more about the technical side of skiing," he said. "The great thing is focusing on the other adaptive kids that I am working with, and showing them the freedom and elation that I got."
VASS has programs available for students of all ages offered at Cypress, Grouse and Seymour mountains. VASS offers programs from beginner to advanced levels in skiing, snowboarding, sit-skiing, and advanced adaptive ski racing.
Hopkins continues to attend brain injury support groups. He also is an active speaker about brain injuries and awareness. After the VASS Cup Hopkins spoke at Capilano University about brain injuries and what it is like dealing with a brain injury.
"I've stayed involved with the brain injury support group in New Westminster because that's who connected me with this (VASS)," he said. "I try to get some of them to come out." Hopkins said even a small bit of understanding and help can make a huge difference in someone's life.
"Everybody has problems with stuff all day long for their whole life and some are a little bit more distinctive than others. But all it takes is a little bit of understanding and a little help and everybody will get through everything. It's pretty simple really."
Today, Hopkins still experiences problems remembering times, dates and appointments. He uses his iPhone to keep his day organized.
"Everything is a challenge in terms of co-ordinating," he said. "Just having something that helps me keep track of everything, is the only crutch I need."
Hopkins said he won't be the person he was before the brain tumours but he believes it is important for him to understand the person he has become.
"What is the new normal? I am not going back the way I was, so I have to understand the way I work now and just do it the best I can. I think I have gotten into that groove and knowing how the new Mark operates," he said. "I've sort of settled into whatever the new normal is."
Hopkins said the secret to his success has been his ability to find and pursue his passion.
"There is something out there that you are going to love . . . It might not be skiing but there is something," he said. "Everybody has got something that is going to get them to the other side and leave the disability behind . . . find something that just drives and gives you something that sets the fire inside you."
