Family, friends remember para athlete, reality TV star and 'fierce' disability advocate

Brian McPherson, an Edmonton-based reality TV star, athlete and disability advocate, has died at the age of 47.

McPherson was known best for his breakout role in the CBC TV show Push, which follows a group of friends in Edmonton navigating their lives in wheelchairs.

He was also a former World Cup winning para-bobsledder and a nationally ranked sledge hockey player.

On Nov. 12, McPherson died by Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID), after battling several health complications.

Bean Gill met McPherson in 2013 when she was looking to make friends with more people who used wheelchairs. She was one of his co-stars on Push when it launched in 2023.

Gill says he was a fierce advocate for the disabled community in Edmonton. 

“He's very, very loud. He's got a very big boisterous voice. He just always has been, like, the life of the party. I nicknamed him ‘Crazy Brian’ because he just did so many crazy things and had such a big love for life,” she said.

“His work history shows that he's done … most able-bodied jobs that, you know, most people with disabilities would never even consider trying.”

At one point, he even figured out how to ride an e-scooter around the city, she said.

That willingness to try anything was what inspired her and many other people in the community, she said.

McPherson was vocal about his support for the disabled community. In their free time, Gill said they sought a little vigilante justice.

“The accessible parking thing is like the bane of his existence, and people illegally parking in our parking stalls,” she said. “So we just started parking behind people and just boxing them in."

His mother, Judy McPherson said he never let anything get in the way.

In 1995, when he was about 19, he suffered a serious spinal injury. Judy McPherson said her son had to re-learn how to get around on a wheelchair but she said he never let that get him down.