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Grant Korgan, a longtime extreme sports enthusiast, has become one of the most effervescent motivational speakers in the country. Injured in a snowmobile accident while doing a jump with his pro-snowmobile team the Alpine Assassins, Grant believes everything happens for a reason, and since his injury he has been unstoppable.
From becoming the first person with a spinal cord injury to trek to the South Pole to becoming a TEDx speaker, here is a peek into the positive world of Reno, Nevada native, Grant Korgan.
Why He’s Fearless
Before his injury, Grant says he had it all. He was a mechanical engineer and president of his own nanotechnology company, recently married to a beautiful wife, and was physically active in some really cool sports. He traveled all over the world for whitewater kayaking, was an avid downhill skier, mountain biker, wakeboarder, and was the co-founder of a pro-snowmobiling team.
In 2010, he went too far on a jump, missing it by 70 ft, and landing so hard he broke his L1 vertebrae on impact. But in the world of spinal cord injuries, Grant was pretty lucky. He had a lower injury and his cord was bruised. Within 5 months of his injury, he was standing with the help of leg braces, and can walk canes. Grant credits activity-based recovery, going to therapy at CR Johnson Healing Center at High Fives Foundation and at Spine Nevada, for his recovery.
After going home, Grant focused on this therapy, and he also got back into doing extreme sports. On the one year anniversary of his injury, he was back on a snowmobile. And in the Spring of the same year, he was back on a kayak. So when the opportunity arose to go on a South Pole expedition along with another paraplegic, which would ultimately become the documentary, The Push: A South Pole Adventure, he was more than up for it.
He sit-skied for 75 miles, taking 2 weeks. He became the first person with a spinal cord injury to reach the South Pole, which he did on January 17th, 2012. He credits his positive childhood and support from his wife Shawna for his amazing attitude, and for taking him as far as it has.
And in 2012 he also published, Two Feet Back, a memoir on his disability and accident. His desire to share his positive mindset with others made him a natural fit for motivational speaking, which has been doing for several years. He has even given a TEDx speech. A cornerstone message in all of his speeches focuses on the limitless possibilities in all of us. “I believe its human to fall down. The magic happens when we get back up,” he says.
What’s Next
Grant has also become a film director since his injury. Inspired by his trek to the South Pole, he put his film director hat on and made a documentary about the adventure called, The PUSH: Owning Your Reality Is Where the Journey Begins, which premiered in 2018. He also starred in a documentary in 2017, Full Circle Project, that followed his attempt to break the world speed record for circumnavigating Lake Tahoe in a one-man outrigger canoe.
Grant has managed to live an amazing life since his injury. He has also become a licensed pilot and he founded The Moment Foundation, a nonprofit that executes aviation-related humanitarian missions and creates inspirational media.
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