Elijah Arranz at the Rotary Club of Canberra Sunrise
On Thursday 16 April 2026, the Rotary Club of Canberra Sunrise hosted a remarkable young man at it’s breakfast meeting.
Elijah Arranz, along with his parents joined club members for breakfast, and shortly thereafter, addressed the meeting with his life story thus far – and what a story it was, one of tragedy, despair, hope, love, grit, determination and positivity.
On 21 November 2015, when Elijah was just 14, he spontaneously decided to undertake a tandem skydiving jump at Goulburn.
Just prior to landing, a gust of wind resulted in the collapse of the parachute at around 100 feet which resulted in the death of instructor Tony Rokov. You could hear the pain in his voice when he talked about Tony, crediting this former military commando with positioning himself to take the force of impact thus cushioning Elijah to the greatest extent possible.
Elijah was flown to Sydney in an aeromedical helicopter and was unconscious for several weeks. When he regained consciousness, he discovered that he was unable to speak and unable to walk. In the decade since the accident, with grit and determination, and supported all the way by his family and friends, he has had to relearn how to walk, how to talk, and has matured into an impressive young man and an excellent speaker.
Elijah talked to us about his amnesia as a result of his accident, and his physical and mental frustrations having been a 14 year old all-rounder athlete prior to the accident (soccer, rugby league, basketball and long distance running).
Nothing has distracted Elijah from returning to his original passion - long distance running, and he has set himself some ambitious goals including potentially competing in future Paralympics games.
Elijah continues persistently with speech therapy, physical therapy and gym sessions including sessions on the rowing machine.
He graduated from college in 2019 still wheel chair bound, but on arriving to brief the Rotary Club of Canberra Sunrise in 2026, he strode confidently into the meeting.
Elijah acknowledges that “if I don’t do the hard work I’m not going to get anywhere”.
RCCS President Rosemary Everett expressed the Club's admiration and appreciation to Elijah and his parents for an extraordinary tale related in such a positive and inspirational manner.
