Paralympian suing U of R tells court about challenges after accident left her a quadriplegic

A Paralympian says doing simple things like recovering from a scratch and making a bed have become immensely more difficult since an accident left her a quadriplegic.

Miranda Biletski is suing the University of Regina for negligence.

Biletski dove into a pool from competition starting blocks at the university during a swim club practice in June 2005.

The then-16-year-old hit the bottom and fractured her cervical vertebrae, leaving her a quadriplegic.

The Paralympic wheelchair rugby player testified before a jury Tuesday that she got a scratch on her tail bone while transferring out of her wheelchair in July 2015.

A couple of days later, the scratch was a festering wound with black skin. The wound grew to "probably about the size of a hockey puck" and the tip of her tail bone could be seen, she said. It's still healing, she said.

Biletski teared up on the stand as she talked about taking classes at Camosun College in Victoria. The college is in the same building as the Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence, where she trained. Biletski said she thought it would be a good combination of training and attending class.

But she ended up having to leave the school on compassionate medical grounds.

"The straw that really broke the camel's back with that one was one of my professor's made me provide a note saying I missed class to have a bowel movement," she tearfully testified.

Court has heard that Biletski has to put in her own catheter to go to the bathroom several times a day and that a bowel movement now takes her a couple of hours.

Biletski — the first woman on Canada's wheelchair rugby team — can move her arms and shoulders, but has limited use of her hands.