‘He’s an inspirational person’: Blind B.C. boy grows up to be Paralympic triathlete

Adam finds out how a man in Saanich lost his sight and found the vision to realize his adventurous dreams.

SAANICH, B.C. — Kyle Coon takes a moment to pet his pup named Hugh, and says the animal’s capacity for love is boundless.

“A dog is man’s best friend no matter what,” Kyle smiles. “And he’s just so enthusiastic about his job.”

While Hugh’s work as a guide dog is flawless, Kyle says Hugh’s skillset is not limitless.

“I wouldn’t ask him to guide me in a triathlon,” Kyle laughs. “His swimming and biking are a little suspect.”

But to appreciate why Kyle would ask himself to tackle a triathlon, we need to go back to when he was diagnosed with a rare eye cancer as a boy, and completely lost his sight at six.

“‘How am I going to play outside with my friends? How am I going to do my schoolwork,’” Kyle recalls thinking to himself at the time. “That really sent me into a depression, and it was scary.”

Kyle couldn’t see a way to move forward in life, until he was introduced to a blind athlete who inspired him to move up through rocking climbing.

“I fell in love with it very fast,” Kyle says, adding that he was fuelled by the sport’s puzzle-solving.

“It was putting together this puzzle of, how do we get from the ground to the top?” Kyle explains.

Although he grew up to summit multiple major mountains including Kilimanjaro, Kyle always responded to overcoming the mental and physical challenges of solving that puzzle the same way.

“‘That was so amazing! That was so awesome!’” Kyle would say. “‘Where’s the next one? What’s the next challenge?’”

So Kyle started going down mountains as a competitive skier, before challenging himself to cycle, swim and run in triathlons.

“If it involves adventure,” Kyle says. “I want to be part of it.”

Seeing as his guide dogs like Hugh couldn’t compete, Kyle started training with human guides like Nico Lightbody at Peak Endurance who could.

“He’s just an inspirational person,” Nico says. “Because he doesn’t let anything stop him and he has these really cool goals.”

After setting the goals of running major marathons and completing Ironman triathlons, Kyle became a two-time Paralympian, gold-medal-winning World Champion, and keynote speaker.

“Just because I don’t see the world,” Kyle says. “Doesn’t mean I don’t have the vision of what’s possible.”

And Kyle says it’s possible for all of us to make the choice to push our limits and realize our dreams, and if you can share it with friends – like Hugh and Nico – even better.