I arrived at St Georges the night of which my accident happened, where I would undergo surgery the next day. Funnily enough I didn’t get much sleep that night! The amount of things that run through your mind in that situation are insane, but being that I was so drugged up I wasn’t completely aware of what was going on.

The following morning the surgeons came and explained the operation, and once again, funnily enough I nodded, agreed and told them to get on with it!

I was in intensive care for 10 days (which felt like a life-time), HDU for a week and was then moved to a bay where I spent the rest of my time at St Georges which in total was 6 weeks.

After moving to my bay a few memories stand out more than others, one being the first time I experienced a tilt table, the idea behind this is to improve circulation and blood pressure as I had been in bed for 4 weeks. As soon as they can the physios will put you in a wheelchair to get you out of bed for a short time in the day, with a spinal chord injury your skin becomes highly vulnerable, which results in bed sores. Without being too graphic I had one right at the top of my bum. This meant I had to stay in bed for 5 weeks straight… I used to love a lay in but that was something else!

One day that brings back slightly more positive memories is when I was allowed to go out on the balcony, still in my hospital bed but hey, in that situation its the little things that seem huge! Surprisingly the weather was sunny and I spent a few hours in the fresh air for the first time in weeks.

Looking back now St Georges felt like an absolute eternity and for me was the hardest part,   but my next step was to start rehabilitation and the thought of getting better seemed to keep me going…