Summer Reading Review: Jason Dunkerley’s Visions of Hope autobiography helped Paralympian work through painful life events

By Dan Plouffe

Jason Dunkerley has experienced a number of difficult moments in his life that he wanted to run away from. Sometimes the five-time Paralympian ran towards the next objective on the track as a coping strategy. But in his Visions of Hope memoir, he writes that running has kept him in balance more than anything else.

Many in Ottawa will recognize Dunkerley as a four-time world champion who won five Paralympic medals on sport’s biggest stage in middle-distance races for athletes with no vision.

But they may not be as familiar with several of the traumatic life events he endured away from the track. Some will remember the serious injuries he and fellow Paralympian Stuart McGregor sustained when they were struck by a car while out running near the Rideau Canal. That event of course added additional physical challenges for Dunkerley, on top of navigating the world without eyesight.

But there were also significant emotional hardships he faced before moving to Ottawa in 2002. Growing up in Northern Ireland, his alcoholic father wasn’t part of his life for long, and his younger brother died by suicide after his family moved to Canada.

Dunkerley said it was painful to relive those moments while writing his book, but healing in a way as well.

“It was hard, but I also think it helped me to understand them and reconnect with some of those things that sometimes you just sort of sweep away,” the 47-year-old explained in an interview with the Ottawa Sports Pages. “I think the culture is changing, but I think as athletes, we’re really kind of trained to deal with pain and not really complain about it or even acknowledge it.

“I wanted to acknowledge that we all harbour pain within us, and maybe come to terms with some of it or understand and learn from it, but it doesn’t have to keep us down or imprison us. We can actually use it as a way to get stronger.”

True to his humble and gracious nature, there isn’t much of a bad word spoken about anyone throughout Dunkerley’s book. Following an intriguing segment about donating a liver to his wife, readers might be surprised by a later chapter that begins abruptly with the couple’s divorce.

Dunkerley is now friends with his former wife, but he hasn’t spoken to his original international guide Greg Dailey, a teammate from the University of Guelph, after he decided he needed an Ottawa-based guide prior to the London 2012 Games, where he went on to win two medals with Josh Karanja.

“Of course, life has its rough edges,” Dunkerley reflected. “There were tensions that I really tried to address – I wanted to be honest – but I also absolutely didn’t want to hurt anyone, so I really tried, as much as I could, without being sort of disingenuous, to really look at things from both sides and how the other person might have been thinking.”

Sports fans and running gurus will certainly appreciate the details Dunkerley provides on workouts, times and competing in major events and games.

“I wanted to write about running and share the training and the journey that I had as a runner, but I also wanted it to appeal to a broader audience so that people wouldn’t categorize it purely as a running book,” noted the national team member of two decades. “I also wanted it to be a book about life, and my experience just as a human being who ran.”

Dunkerley always had it in the back of his mind that he’d like to write a book, but the impetus came in 2019 after his mother’s death.

“I think that really made me realize that life is finite,” signalled Dunkerley, a University of Ottawa world literature masters grad who is also a songwriter/musician.

A mentor/friend, retired University of Manitoba professor Joannie Halas, helped him get started, encouraged him throughout the writing process, and provided feedback and edits. It was helpful that Dunkerley had kept a blog around 2012, his brother and fellow Paralympian Jon shared some different childhood recollections, and he simply remembered a lot.

“Some of the things we did and the experiences I had through running, and life too, were just quite vivid,” indicated the Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club legend.

Dunkerley struggled with writer’s block at times, but had no trouble switching from scholarly style to writing a book.

“When I was doing my masters, I sort of got criticized for not writing in an academic way,” he smiled. “I do really appreciate storytelling, and I wanted this to be a story.”

Dunkerley completed his manuscript in 2023, but then took over a year to secure a publisher. He had a few polite rejections and others didn’t reply, which fuelled some doubts. He thought about self-publishing options, but that would have required more investment and self-promotion, which does not match the style of the highly accomplished athlete who retired very quietly retired without fanfare.

Read More: Jason Dunkerley leaves quietly with 5 medals from 5 Paralympics & 4 world titles (LINK)

Ultimately, Yorkland Press agreed to publish the book last spring, and he got another boost when Dr. Bruce Kidd, perhaps Canada’s best-known sport researcher, jumped in to write the foreword.

They rushed to get the hard copy of Visions of Hope (LINK) printed before Christmas, followed later by an audiobook version (LINK).

This spring, Dunkerley officially launched the book at Red Bird Cafe on Bank St., where he also performed songs from his latest album, Out of the Blue (LINK).

“The launch went really well and I couldn’t have been happier with it,” he reported, noting that many people told him there were lots of parts of his story they didn’t know, while others thanked him for tips on types of coffee or beer to try.

“There’s been some really nice reactions, which feels good for sure,” added Dunkerley, who was also featured in a TVO program (VIDEO LINK and TRANSCRIPT LINK) and by the Canadian Paralympic Committee (LINK).

Running still has a central part in Dunkerley’s life.

Now a year into his job at Sport Canada working in disability inclusion policy development, he’s part of a lunchtime running group with his Fontaine Building-based team in Gatineau.

Dunkerley said the past year “has probably been one of my most enjoyable years of running, because there hasn’t been that pressure or expectation.”

The subtitle on the front cover nails the theme of the book nicely: “Running Towards My Own Truth” –the pursuit that’s taken him around the globe has helped him gain an understanding of himself and the world.

“Running just really opens kind of my mind to how I’m feeling about things,” Dunkerley underlined. “It sort of breaks the inertia of our day-to-day lives. It’s very meditative. You’re moving, on one hand, but it also kind of creates a stone inside you to just reconnect with yourself.

“Running has given me so much, but that’s probably one of the most valuable gifts, I would say, is just that chance to really feel connected and in touch with yourself on how you’re really doing.”