Aussie Paralympics hopeful opens up about drug-fueled party that left him paralyzed when he jumped off a fifth-floor balcony: ‘I took what I thought was marijuana’
Tristan Orchard’s life changed when he smoked synthetic marijuana at a party
Orchard jumped from a five-story balcony and suffered a serious spinal cord injury
He now dreams of representing Australia at the Paralympics in LA in 2028
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Tristan Orchard’s life changed forever in 2019 when he smoked synthetic marijuana at a partner’s party and woke up the next day in a hospital bed unable to feel his legs.
Orchard, 23, now has a very different life and plans to represent Australia at the 2028 Paralympic Games in wheelchair tennis – a sport he discovered while recovering from his serious spinal injury.
The Brisbane-based athlete trains every day in his new sport and also hopes to compete in the 2032 Paralympic Games in Brisbane – recently starting on the night his world turned upside down.
Para-athlete Tristan Orchard (pictured right) plans to represent Australia at the Paralympics in tennis in LA in 2028 and in Brisbane in 2032. He discovered tennis while in rehabilitation for a serious spinal cord injury
Orchard pictured serving. The Aussie is candid about how his life changed when he smoked synthetic marijuana at a party, which sent him into psychosis and jumps off a five-story balcony.
“I took what I thought was marijuana and it turned out to be a synthetic drug,” Orchard told the… Herald Sun.
“I remember having a concussion and the next thing I remember waking up in Adelaide in a spinal unit.”
Orchard, who was in Darwin at the time of the accident, was told he had broken several vertebrae and his arm when he jumped from a fifth-floor balcony.
His injuries were so serious that he was transported to a hospital in Adelaide better equipped to cope with the serious nature of his injury.
‘I don’t remember anything. It wasn’t something I would have chosen. It’s not like I was a big party goer, either,” he recalled.
Orchard (bottom left, pictured at a Wallabies vs England rugby match) only remembers feeling lightheaded before jumping off the fifth-floor balcony
“It was like taking something for the third time and it turned out to be one of those synthetic drugs with a lot of chemicals in it and something changed in my brain and I went into psychosis.”
Orchard’s partner Phoebe Grasmeder quit her job in Darwin and moved to Adelaide to stand by his side as he recovered.
He was introduced to tennis during his rehab and discovered a burning desire to succeed in the sport.
Australian wheelchair tennis king Dylan Alcott (pictured) is one of Orchard’s biggest inspirations
“During rehab, a guy from tennis came in and I fell in love with him right away,” Orchard told NT News.
“It’s something that’s addictive and now I want to prove to everyone that I can play the game and do it well.”
Orchard is a big fan of the Australian of the Year and wheelchair tennis champion Dylan Alcott, one of his biggest inspirations.
“That’s the goal, play tennis professionally and compete in the Paralympics,” he said.
“This is something I can really go for and I’m confident I can do it.”