On breaking my neck, doing what I loved

Sadly not a joke

Well it’s been quite some time since I posted an update. Those of you who know me personally already know why. But here is a short version of events.

On fifth June, in order to take advantage of the summer heat wave which I’m now reliably informed has gone away, I was climbing in Glencoe with a friend. Due to friability in the rock, what we thought was a route in unusually safe condition turned out to be almost lethal. On the final pitch of 16, as I was leading, the rock collapsed and much of my gear exploded out of the placements. I fell around 20 meters. My left arm was shattered severely, and my right arm was also broken, albeit less severely. Worst of all I fractured two vertebrae in my neck.

Luckily, I was climbing with a surgeon that day and by amazing good fortune and incredible skill and composure on his behalf, he saved my life. I was airlifted to Glasgow hospital where multiple surgeries were conducted and I awoke four weeks later. After a period of drug induced insanity I eventually came to something like my senses. Since then I have been transferred back to London where I am undergoing the start of a very long physio journey.

At present, I have very limited use of my hands and no control of my body below my abdominal muscles. This is not exactly how I planned to spend my summer, to say the least.

I have written this short post through the use of voice dictation partly just to prove to myself that I can. The vast likelihood is I will never walk again, let alone climb. For somebody who was obsessed with climbing this has been a particularly hard blow to take on top of all of the other horrendous realities I now face.

However, I am determined to apply the same mentality of continuous hard work and endeavour that I brought to training to my long road of rehab. I am told that independence is an achievable goal and is what I should aim for. So I’m going to do my best.

I don’t know where this route ends, and I don’t know how much I will, if at all, update this in future. There is certainly an irony that when I had the psychologically most healthy relationship to climbing in my life, that is when disaster struck. But that just serves as a reminder that life isn’t fair. The point ultimately is not to cry about it, but to try and do the best with whatever hand one has been dealt. So that is what I’m going to do.

Stay safe out there and keep sending. I will join you in spirit, even if I can no longer join you on the rocks themselves.