Swim and gym sessions help Doncaster-man recover from spinal injury
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In January 2013, Mark was aged just 49 when he contracted an infection that crushed his spine and resulted in an emergency operation. Following the operation Mark couldn’t walk and was in a wheelchair but over the past decade almost daily swim and gym sessions have helped him to take the steps to recovery.
Said Mark: “At the end of January 2013, I was suddenly hit with a huge pain in my back. It felt like an elephant had stepped on my back. We called the paramedics and they thought I’d strained my back.
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Hide Ad“The night before I’d been at a go karting presentation with my son and not done anything strenuous and I’d had a relaxing morning, cooked a breakfast but by lunchtime the pain appeared.
“The following day I struggled to get out of bed and was taken to A&E in an ambulance, the team there thought it was a muscle injury, but they did a CT scan and a blood test and I was sent home.
“A few days later I went to get up in the night to go to the toilet and collapsed. An MRI scan found what had caused the problem. I’d got an infection that had crushed my spine and paralysed me. We have no idea how I got the infection or where it came from but I was left unable to walk.
“It was really scary. I had to have an emergency operation, I then had to have antibiotics dripped into my body every few hours as I recovered from the infection, I was then moved to the spinal unit at the Northern General where I remained for three months.
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Hide Ad“When I came home to my wife and kids who were 21 and 19 at the time it was really tough. I was in a wheelchair and could walk about 10 yards but couldn’t get up the stairs and couldn’t drive or be independent. My mum, who was 68 and retired came and helped us a lot.
“We looked for a local leisure centre that could help as the medical team had advised swimming as a recovery activity. Doncaster Culture and Leisure Trust’s Adwick Leisure Complex had lifts to get in and out of the pool and the spacious changing areas that made it easy for me to use the pool.
“Mum would pick me up and the management team had kindly let me leave a wheelchair, as mum wouldn’t have been able to manage that as well as me. They were really helpful and made my recovery so much easier.
“I got physio through the team at RDASH and slowly managed to get back to walking, just up and down the street at first. “Eventually thanks to the hard work and the support I got off the crutches."
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Hide Ad“The team at Adwick helped me to use the gym gradually and there were some amazing people there who spent time with me
“Now, a decade on from the infection I swim six or seven times a week and use the gym there three times a week, I use Fitness Village Balby and take part in a circuit class.