My accident occurred on 2nd October 1999.
I was riding my Kawazaki GPZ 500 motorbike in Twickenham, London on the way to watch England play rugby in the World Cup.
I turned down a road that had speed bumps and on hitting the third one – for a reason still unknown to me today – I lost control of my bike, came off, hit a parked car and ended up in the road.
This collision severed my spinal cord at T9/10 leaving me with complete paralysis from about an inch above my belly button down. This means I can not now move my legs voluntarily therefore I am a wheelchair user. I am also unable to control by bladder or bowels.
I underwent rehabilitation at the Stanmore Spinal Injuries Centre and returned to work – as a solicitor – straightaway.
I was very fortunate in that I not only had extremely supportive family and friends during this period but I had an understanding of spinal injury already due to my best friend , Ben Smoldon, having broken his neck 8 years previously in a rugby match.
Having seen Ben cope so well with tetraplegia before my accident allowed me an insight into paralysis that was invaluable when I was getting to grips with my altered physical situation after my accident.