CALGARY—Former Humboldt Broncos defenceman Ryan Straschnitzki is now back in his hometown of Airdrie, Alta., ready to take the next step on his road to recovery.He and his family – mom Michelle, dad Tom and siblings Jett, Jaden and Connor – have moved into a hotel in the city. It will be their second home for the next three to six months as contractors renovate their two-storey house to make it wheelchair-accessible for Ryan.Straschnitzki is one of 13 surviving Broncos members from the junior-hockey team’s devastating bus crash. Their bus collided with a truck on a north Saskatchewan highway on April 6.The collision killed 16 team members and left Straschnitzki paralyzed from the bottom of his pectoral muscles down, he said.“I can’t use (my core muscles) or feel them, so I basically balance with my head and shoulders,” he explained.For mobility, he uses his neck, arm and shoulder muscles, “my upper back as well; I use my hands to balance as well. It’s a whole new learning curve.”The 19-year-old returned to Airdrie on Wednesday after completing the first stint of his physical rehabilitation at Philadelphia’s Shriners Hospital on July 4.Read more:The day that changed a Saskatchewan hockey town foreverPolice chief calls for mass casualty plan in Saskatchewan after Broncos crashHumboldt Broncos’ Ryan Straschnitzki in talks with Calgary Flames about potential job opportunityHe said he has confidence in his self-mobility gains and capabilities, like lifting himself from his wheelchair to a stationary chair.As for his home’s renovations, some of those include knocking down a basement wall in his bedroom, which will give him more space to maneuver.The contractors also need to move the home’s furnace and water heater back several feet deeper into the furnace room, along with widening the basement hallway by knocking down a concrete wall that runs parallel to the home’s garage.Those ...
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