(Trinity Lowthian of Stittsville is seen in action as she represents Canada in wheelchair fencing. Trinity will be departing for Paris to represent Canada at the 2024 Paralymics. Photo: Stephen Leithwood)
We have all faced adversity at one time in our lives, but for Trinity Lowthian of Stittsville it has been an uphill road of achievements since 2018 when she faced a significant health challenge – her autonomic nervous system was compromised – known as Autoimmune Autonomic Neuropathy and became wheelchair dependent two years ago. Despite this, she graduated high school with honours, completing her final two years primarily from her hospital bed.
In May 2022, after regaining her strength, Lowthian joined the Ottawa Fencing Club as a Para athlete. Her introduction to wheelchair fencing marked the beginning of a remarkable journey. Since then, she has won two gold medals and one bronze at the 2024 Americas Championships, three medals at the 2022 Americas Championships, and competing in the 2023 World Championships. She also made a significant impact at the U23 World Championships in both 2022 and 2023.
In addition to her athletic achievements, Lowthian is a student of nutrition and food science at the University of Ottawa. She also leads the TRYumph Gymnastics Academy’s wheelchair fencing program, which has integrated with the Ottawa Fencing Club to promote inclusivity and provide opportunities for athletes with disabilities.
We reached out to Trinity to share her remarkable story with Stittsville residents as she is on her way to represent Canada at the 2024 Paris Paralympics to compete in wheelchair fencing.
From a young age Trinity was passionate about sports. She had been an active athlete prior to her health challenges competing in sports such as biathlon and triathlon and knew she wanted to pursue her dream of being an Olympian one day.
We asked Trinity what was her initial lure of one day being an athlete in the Olympics. She shared, “It was never a specific sport and I honestly don’t know what the initial lure was. I think that I loved how the energy at the Games transcends sport. Cheering for Team Canada made me so passionate and I looked up to all of the athletes so much that I wanted to become one of them.”
With her hope dashed of becoming an Olympian representing Canada, Trinity changed her path to discover a sport that could then see her competing as a Paralympian. With time, fencing came to her attention. We asked if fencing was her sport of choice – being one with many mental obstacles alongside strength?
“Fencing came totally out of the blue for me, I didn’t know anyone with prior experience with it. Because of my health, I knew that going back to an endurance sport would not be the most realistic choice since I wanted a sport that I would be able to quickly excel at. Fencing seemed like a good choice because although it is physical, it is only for short periods of time and has that a huge mental component to challenge myself in a way that is realistic and not detrimental to my body,” responded Trinity.
As with all athletes, there are days when it is difficult or thoughts of ‘what am I doing’ cross the mind. When days such as this occured for Trinity, she shared what it was that uplifted her to continue her endeavour to perform.
“I look up to other athletes in high performance sport. I am a huge soccer fan and use the accomplishments of my favourite athletes as motivation. I also will go back and read my old journal entries from when I was in the hospital and doing very poorly physically and mentally. Reading those inspires me to work hard and take advantage of the situation that I am in now because my younger self never would have imagined being here. I am also motivated to continue to do the most that I can while my body still allows me since I am not sure what my health holds for me in the future.”
When Trinity travels to Paris, as with any international competition in which she has participated, it entails numerous medical resources and official documentation. Trinity shared what incredibly it takes for her to travel to represent Canada at the Paralympics. “Before I leave, I need to get medical letters from my medical team so that I can get through security at the airport with my medical supplies and, of course, I need to call the airlines to get this approved since I have a lot of extra luggage from medical supplies. I am on IV nutrition (total parenteral nutrition) and I need to pack all of this in coolers because it needs to stay refrigerated – it is about 2L per day that I travel with. On top of that, I pack another 3L of IV hydration per day that I travel, luckily this can be kept in my checked luggage so it is less to lug around the airport. Plus packing all of the medical supplies of tubing, medications, IV pumps and more. As much as I love to travel light, unfortunately that is not an option for me since all of my nutrition and hydration must come from a specialty pharmacy near Toronto. Especially since I also need to bring my fencing equipment and fencing wheelchair (different from my day to day wheelchair). While I travel I am connected 24/7 to my backpack which holds my nutrition/hydration and IV pump. Even when I am fencing, I leave my backpack below my fencing chair so that I can continue to receive nutrition and/or hydration.”
Trinity is a role model and inspiration to all in addition to an amazing positive attitude. While in Paris, Trinity has a goal, “to perform at my 100% and not have any regrets when my matches are finished. I know that if I perform to the maximum of my abilities, the results will follow and I can give a performance that I will be proud of. After Paris I am planning to take a little break from fencing to catch up on the other aspects of my life and then reassess my goals in fencing once I’ve had some time to reflect.”
Trinity inspires other athletes who have their own goals and shares her words of encouragement, “prioritize your mental health and self care. I know that if I am not doing well mentally, I will get much more benefit to stay home and recharge for a night instead of going to practice. That way I can have more productive training sessions the next days instead of continuing to train through it and depleting myself more. This might be a unique take that is influenced by my experience with chronic illness but I think that it can be applied to athletes in situations of burnout or general life stress.”
Trinity has demonstrated pure determination while overcoming countless health challenges to achieve her goal. There is no doubt that all of Stittsville will be cheering for Trinity when she performs in Paris in the Women’s category B sabre starting at 7:50am ET on September 3 and Women’s category B epee starting at 4:10am ET on September 6.
To read more of Trinity’s story and how you can support her, please visit: Trinity’s Path2Paris on GoFundMe.
Well done young lady!
We’ll be watching and cheering you on from Canada!