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Pascale BercovitchIsraeli Paralympic athlete, journalist
Country:
 Israel |
Content:
- Biography of Pascal Berkovitch
- Early Life and Accident
- New Beginnings in Israel
- Achievements in Sports
- A Life of Triumph and Happiness
Biography of Pascal Berkovitch
Pascal Noa Berkovitch is an Israeli Paralympic athlete, journalist, filmmaker, and journalist. She lost her legs at the age of 17 in a train accident, and her life since then has been a constant battle, in which she continues to be a confident winner. Today, she has a family and daughters who have enjoyed riding with their mother in a wheelchair since childhood, and who continue to admire their extraordinary mom.
Early Life and Accident
Pascal Noa Berkovitch was born in 1967 in France, to a half-Jewish family. On December 13, 1984, her life took a tragic turn. She was running late for a train and rushed onto the station just as the doors were closing. Seeing that the door of the last carriage was slightly open, she tried to catch it but failed. Holding onto the handrail, Pascal tried to catch up with the train, but it was accelerating too fast. At some point, she let go of the handrail and fell onto the tracks, getting pulled under the train. It was the year 1984 when 17-year-old Pascal lost both of her legs.
For the next 47 minutes, Pascal lay on the tracks, and when the first passengers exited the next train, Pascal smiled at her first stroke of luck in her "new" life: one of the passengers happened to be a paramedic. He acted quickly and efficiently, but it took some time before she reached the operating table. The resuscitation took a long time, and it was then that Pascal began to realize that how she felt and what others thought of her were two completely different things. While she felt like a hero and was proud of surviving, in the eyes of everyone, even the doctors, pity was evident. No, young Pascal did not need pity; she already knew that if she had survived there, on the tracks, everything would be fine for her. She had to seriously think about her life, and soon Pascal had a clear plan.
New Beginnings in Israel
Asking herself who she wanted to be in life, she honestly answered herself: she wanted to be an Israeli. And she headed to Israel in the summer of 1985. She never returned to France, and soon Pascal Noa Berkovitch was conscripted into the Israeli army. Without both legs. After serving, she went to work as a journalist in Syria for several years. By the age of 30, Pascal decided it was time to start a family, and soon she got married and gave birth to her first daughter.
Achievements in Sports
Later, Pascal received an offer to join the Israeli national team for kayaking. She competed in the Beijing Olympics and finished in 8th place with her team. Soon after, it was time to give birth to her second child, and Pascal welcomed her second daughter. Alongside her family responsibilities, Pascal continued to maintain a rigorous training schedule, and soon she was competing in the London Olympics.
A Life of Triumph and Happiness
When Pascal looks back on that day on the subway tracks in Paris, she has no regrets. She is certain that Pascal with legs would not have been as happy in life as Pascal without legs. She believes that losing her legs awakened her true sense of fighting spirit, will to win, and self-confidence. Pascal calls herself a completely happy woman – she has a loving husband, charming children, a beloved job, and sports. Overall, Pascal Noa Berkovitch is convinced that the most difficult thing is to overcome mental difficulties because if one can overcome them, then physical challenges no longer seem daunting.
