art smarts

Chapter 2. Artist Profiles

Ed Smith

Ed Smith writes a weekly general interest humour column for newspapers across Newfoundland. Several collections of his columns have been published, as well as a brief autobiography of his childhood, Some Fine Times, and Fish ‘n’ Ships, a more or less “nonsense” approach to Newfoundland history. In 1998, Ed had a car accident that left him a quadriplegic.

"My wife and I lost our lives in that accident, in a very real sense. Because we were both very outdoors-oriented; we loved hunting and fishing and being out on the ocean in our boat chasing fish or whales or whatever. And we spent a lot of our time doing that. We don’t do that anymore. There are a whole lot of things we don’t do anymore. So we had to really create new lives for ourselves and that’s what we’ve been doing for the last two and a half, three years. You seem to have those reserves you can call on when you need them, and they’re there. I mean, if you had told me five years ago that I would be quadraplegic and functioning in society, with a family and everything, I would have said, ‘No, there’s no way. I will find a way to end it.’ But my gosh you do survive. Somehow you do."

When a friend suggested, about six months after the accident, that Ed go back to writing his column, he felt doubtful that he would be able to write as he had before or that the papers would want him back. But he was welcomed back enthusiastically, and he continues to write his popular columns, though perhaps, he says, with a new edge to his writing.

Writing has become an even larger part of Ed’s life than it was before the accident, helping him experience vicariously some of the things he can no longer do, as well as enabling him to share his story of becoming a person with a disability. An account of his accident and recovery that Ed wrote for CBC Radio won a Gabriel Award in 2000. Ed has just finished a manuscript based on his seventeen months in hospitals and rehabilitation centres in Toronto and Newfoundland, entitled From the Ashes of My Dreams.

“When I was in the hospital in Toronto, a doctor appeared by my bed one morning and said, ‘You have fifteen years to live.’

“And I said ‘Excuse me?’

“‘Well, as a quadriplegic, you know, all the stats say you have fifteen years to live.’

“‘Thank you very much. How do you account for that?’ I asked.

“And he said, ‘Well, you know, the various factors are smoking –’

“I said, ‘I don’t smoke.’

“‘Drinking –’

“I said, ‘I don’t drink.’

“‘Drugs –’

“I said, ‘I don’t do drugs. None of these things apply to me. Why don’t you look at the things that apply to me and see what you think?’

“So he says, ‘OK.’

“The next morning he’s back, standing up by my bed and saying, ‘I’ve recalculated the stats as they apply to you, Mr. Smith. And now we believe you have nine years to live.’

“Now that’s funny. If you took him seriously, you might go out and commit hara-kiri or something. So I said to him, ‘My God, you mean I’ve lost six years overnight? I’m gonna be dead by the weekend!’

“He didn’t so much as grin.”

Chapter 3 Inspiration