I wasn’t asked,but here it is:

It’s just an outline, I thought I’d be able to adlib a bit ….

When I walked out of my house on a sunny day in June 2013, little did I know that within 36 hours…
My world and that of my family would be changed for ever. My near death, my truly terrible injuries, my heart attack in surgery, my coma, my loved ones being prepared for the worst. The tears shed by my family and friends.

Then my body’s fight back from the brink.

SCI takes you out of your comfort zone every minute of every day… In ways unimaginable to a young’ish , healthy person
Not being able to walk is just a little part of it.
Feeling nothing below my tummy button, having little sensation below my shoulders on my back, other than pain, having no control of toilet related functions – that’s crap – literally.
Not being able to sit up in bed, or to straighten my back, to feel a hand on my leg, a sofa beneath my bum, a warm shower. The list of little things I miss is endless.

The charity that was set up in the aftermath of my accident has been supported by people taking themselves out of their comfort zones
The Hogarth 24 hour spinsthon.
My brother, Stuart’s s naked press up world record
The park club boxers in March
Terry Rodhams ironman, and worse, not drinking for 9 MOHTHS!
The Team wdf canoeists
Mike Smith’s desert ultra marathon
Dans self flagellation every day before breakfast
Casey’s fun run, numerous half marathons by lovely people.
And now the strictly dancers. Frankly I can’t imagine a lot worse than dancing in front of judges and a 1000 ppl.

You were all incredible tonight, especially my wife, given her genetic disadvantage towards coordination.

You should all be, and I’m sure are, very proud of yourselves.

The money raised will go to people needing sports kit and financial support to get them out of the despair of SCI and active once more, as well as to my own attempts to volunteer to partake in trials for SCI research and ultimately I hope a cure.

Thank you so much to Saskia and the Park Club crew for making this happen.
It’s taken a shit load of effort and time.

I hope, like me, that you think it was worth it.

Thank you all so much for coming.

And happy Christmas.

Too hungover to write, I’ll post these pics of Dani, who wowed the crowd.

What a star!

A huge thank you, in advance, to Saskia Devito-French and the Park Club team, for all the incredible work they’ve done to ensure tonight’s Strictly event is a massive success.

It’s going to exceed everyone’s expectations, I know.

God, I’m both excited and nervous for my wife, her dance skills on show in front of a thousand people.
That’s BRAVE!

I’d love it if she won.

After all, when was it ever about just the taking part?

So my instructor said ‘ you are as good after 2 hours as most people are after 3 weeks’

I’ll take that one 🙂

2 topples in 2 hours was good…

Thanks to Hugh, Kev and Vaughan for their help.

And yes, I’m going again next week.

The plan is to crack it before I get 4 days in France, in January.

Russ

PS Thanks to all my staff for their help and kindness in getting me back to work.
I really couldn’t have done it without your help.
X

Since I can’t dance on Saturday and I don’t want to be the only one making a fool of myself this week, I’m going skiing today, to Hemel Hempstead indoor snow centre.

My old buddy, Kevin Young, is coming with me, plus my new buddy, Vaughan, to film a bit of the action.

I think I remember how I did it, back in March, but we’ll see.
Obviously I have an instructor at hand, too, to drag me upright after I’ve toppled sideways.

I intend to give it my best shot, as always.

Life in my new home is better than my new life in my old home – though NOT as good as my old life in my old home…

I went out with, Rick, Q, James, Bret and Cliff on Monday.
I can honestly say that I had a really good laugh – as in genuine/ proper/ not put on/ not pretending to have fun.

I’m slowly getting the fact that I do have to stop thinking about what it was like before, and just appreciate what I still have now.

To Sian.
Xx

http://youtu.be/2aX5Gq6MwWk

No, not the late DJ and TV personality, but another one, that I’ve actually not yet met, but who was moved sufficiently by my accident, progress ( such as it is ) and blog, to take part in an extreme wilderness race – The Atacama Crossing – to raise money for this charity.

If you didn’t know any better, you’d not recognise planet Earth from these lunar/Martian looking pictures of the race landscape ..

What a feat.
What a guy.

And my 2 day work course went fine… As in no ‘mishaps/spillages’.
That involved rolling off to the loo at every break, invariably meaning that by the time I rolled back, the break was over and I’d missed the coffee. However the hotel staff ( Heathrow Holiday Inn ) were very helpful and flexible and obliging, as was the course organiser, Elaine.

Thanks to Helen and Sel for looking out for me at all times.

I did go to my room early, avoiding drinking ( novel course experience for me, that one ), it taking about 2 hours to sort myself out, get my stuff ready for the morning ( and any middle of night emergencies ) and get into bed.
Then a good 90 minutes in the morning.. But I did it all myself.

Another small thing that represents a fairly large achievement in my new world.

The people on the course were all very polite, helpful at all turns too.

What was slightly strange for me was that of the, let’s say, 30 odd new people that I met, none of them mentioned the chair, asked why I was in it, how long for, whether I would be for ever etc etc.

Have I just gotten used to people asking, and assumed that’s normal? I don’t know, but rightly or wrongly, I still prefer people to ask.

I wonder if I always will?