Category Archives: Events

Today.

Events

Today’s been a strange one. 

There’ve been highs where I’ve felt really happy, and lows where I’ve cried alone in a quiet corridor. 
I’ve seen  the lovely Debs for lunch, and been taken out by Kev, Sam, Toby, Stu and Sam ( again ), all the most loyal and generous company a man could wish for. 
So I should just pull myself together, right?
I try, then sometimes a little thought, or a memory of ‘before this’  fills my head, and I compare now with then. 
However much I’ve improved, there is no comparison between now and then. I can’t help but look at pictures of the fit, healthy, happy man from 7 months ago and compare him to me. 
Do I have to totally switch off my memory  bank to move on?
In my phone photo library I’m canoeing, surfing, skiing, swimming, in restaurants, in bars, at parties, laughing, smiling, picking up my daughters, sitting on sofas with my wife and friends… do I have to delete these memories to go forward?
Do I want to? They are the things that made me the person I was, that I still want to be, in my head. 
I’m an awful lot luckier than a lot of people, but God, sometimes I don’t feel it. 

Monday and Tuesday.

Events

So many lovely visitors in just 2 days. 

I’ll try to list them:
Cherie, Mary, Ruth, Tim, Noah, Sonal, Prab, Jas, Ina, Catherine , Ali, Mitul, Ed, Claire and Lisa. 
What can I say, other than thank you for caring enough to come. 
I’ve had more to eat these last 2 days than I do in a typical week… 
I tried a Mountain Trike today – google it – cross between a wheelchair and a mountain bike really. Allows me to pretty much go anywhere: beach, mud, grass, rocky terrain… it would mean I could watch the girls play sport on fields, go on ‘walks’ cross country, train on the Thames towpath, you name it. 
Added to my wish list, it would drastically increase my ‘freedom’. 
We’ve sussed that if I wear a mask and snorkel, I can swim for a few minutes. 
As I’m officially ‘negatively bouyant’, I sink like a bloody brick. 
With that in mind I was taken to the Guttman leisure centre today. 
After being hoisted into the pool with mask on, I was told ‘you can’t wear that, it’s against health and safety ‘
I explained that without it I was in danger of simply drowning, and asked the lifeguard to stay close to me. 
‘Cant do that, have to stand the other side of the pool’ was the response. 
Has the world gone mad?
Next week they are going to do a ‘risk assessment ‘ on the mask and snorkel. 
Is it just me….?

Events

I’ve  just read this .

I find occasional emails that were sent to me back when I was still pretty confused….




On 1 Aug 2013, one of my staff wrote:

Welcome back to the UK boss. Hope you feel better for being home-ish. 

Iv been very impatient with waiting for updates on the blog, click on it a million times a day. I know you will love all the superhuman comments, wish u all the strength in the world to make something good of this shit situation, miss you and your humour on a daily basis. If you need anything, let me know. 

xx


Weekend.

Events

Great weekend again, with nothing negative happening. 

Consistent contentment is setting in, it would seem. 
Roy, Caroline, Marta and John came for dinner on Saturday night. I felt like myself, 100%. I can’t believe the change in me. 
My buddy Dickon, there with me on my bike trip, brought me back to Stoke Mandeville tonight. We talked about my crash. He was there with me for 90 minutes til the helicopter came. 
He described how I realised that I couldn’t move my legs as I lay on that sun baked road, and cried as it dawned on me that I’d be disabled for the rest of my life. 
Sorry to have put you through that, my friend. 
I’m glad I can’t remember that, or at least I don’t think I can. When you’re told what happened, it can lead to ‘false memory’. 
I can imagine all too well the cataclysmic dawning that never being able to walk again had on me in those moments, the sense of utter despair. 
Little did I know how my life would in fact start correcting itself 7 months later, thanks to so many people helping. 
My friend Ivan – multiple world marathon kayak champion – came on Saturday to take away my beloved kayak, to sell it for me. 
To see him carry it away was strange. 
I was surprisingly unemotional. 2 months ago I’d have wept uncontrollably; now it seemed, I suppose logical. It’s no good to me now, is it ?

My 3 bikes will be next, my x – country skis, my boots, my roller skis, my ice skates, my bike shoes, my scuba fins etc etc 

I don’t feel so sad about it now, at least I got to do all those things, and do them well. 
If anybody wants stuff before I eBay it all , I’d rather sell it to people I know!

New found positivity.

Events

I’ve gone from wishing I was dead to looking forward to a bright future. 

Why?
Lots of reasons. 
One, definitely that video I posted ‘the Freedom Chair’.  To see him sit ski to such an amazing standard is compelling. 
I’ve had 2 little goes at it but could do it fairly well. 
Give me a week or two and I’ll be half decent. 
A year or two, well who knows. 
Before, all of my ski guides would comment on how good I was, given it was just a hobby. Several said I ought to be an instructor, and my last guide said, when I asked him what I should work on ‘ I was hoping you might give me a few tips ‘.. Flattery I’m sure, but we all need a bit of that ( especially if we’re paying for it 😉
So… I’ve no doubt that I’ll get better, get back off piste and kick some ass in due course. 
I’ve gone from thinking everything is an ordeal, to my former attitude : it’s a challenge that I will master. 
The change in my headspace is unbelievable, frankly. 
My life is NOT over, it’s just beginning. 

From my mother in law, Jenni.

Events

Hello again. 
Here is the  email about your wonderful three girls. 


Where to begin? 

Danielle broke the news of your accident to Lily and Amber in such a gentle manner, almost drip feeding information over the phone, to protect them from such a terrible shock. They gradually absorbed the severity of your accident.    Dani was absolutely incredible when she talked to the girls each night. Somehow or other she kept all the fear and overwhelming emotion from her voice and chatted to the girls in an upbeat manner. Against various friends’ advice, Danielle decided to bring Amber to Toulon to visit you. This was such a good decision on her part, as by then, Amber knew you would be asleep and that the accident had caused serious complications. 
Lily was on a school trip to Ireland at this time, so life was kept as normal as possible for them both.
I believe that Dan and Saskia brought Amber out early one morning. The five weeks I spent with Dani in Toulon are a bit hazy and sometimes it is difficult to correlate the sequence of events. We took Amber to the hospital and I have to say that her manner of dealing with finding her daddy in a coma was quite inspirational for a nine year old. She was so calm, always attentive to you and just so loving. She wouldn’t miss an opportunity to visit you and spent many hours drawing fabulously bright and cheerful pictures for you which the staff thought would be good on the wall facing your bed. 
I think it was about a week later that Dani brought Lily to Toulon. I found that Lily seemed more anxious and nervous about seeing you. Perhaps being that much older she was able to imagine all sorts of scenarios. When we arrived at the hospital, sadly, there was a wait to see you as you were having physiotherapy. I think this added to Lily’s disquiet but when she saw you she was so loving, so concerned and so very gentle with you. 
There was an occasion when you frowned and the girls smoothed your forehead and told you off as they said you would get wrinkles!! There was another occasion during the period when you were hell bent on removing all the tubes that were inserted. On this occasion, Dani told you off and you got quite shirty with her. The girls were rather non plussed about this and gave you a good telling off too!
There are so many memories of how completely wonderful, protective and beautiful both Lily and Amber were with you.
I enjoyed a couple of dinners with Amber. She was a delightful companion telling me all about the fact that there was documented proof that mermaids had been found and photographed. We both  got quite hooked on researching this information! We followed dinner with ‘ beauty’, doing nails etc. it was all great fun.
Well Russ, to end this, I’ll just reiterate how completely wonderful, brave and compassionate your three girls are.
Much love
Jenni x

From another friend, a Belgian, that I planned to meet tomorrow, in France.

Events

waaaouh Russ, I saw you on a slope, you didn’t miss a season.

You’re a lesson of courage for me and my childrens who follow your recovery since the very beginning of your new life.

If you could be there in Val Tho in three weeks, I will be happy to follow you on normals slopes but I’m not sure that after 2 days I’will not find you with those crazy Bubu fans.

happy new year to your family and friends

Fred

From one of the guys that I would have skied with tomorrow ..

Events

Hi Russ

I see you have managed to go skiing before I have this year. Very impressive video and an amazing achievement. Just thinking of you as I prepare to go on our ski trip and I am so sorry you cant join us this year. It wont be the same without you, although Club Med profits will be better, as they can never have made money out of you with the amount you consumed in the bar! 
Lets hope you can join us next year, and I do hope that you continue to get stronger.

All the best

Jerry

Friday.

Events

I got a visitor last night that I hadn’t seen for 30 years. 

Sian Lewis used to be at school with me, and delivered the Sunday Times to our house too 
I don’t think you could’ve imagined a more attractive paper girl. 
She drove miles – from Monmouth- to see me, cooked dinner, drank coffee, ok and a little wine, then drove the 4 hours home again. 
Thankfully for her, I don’t think I was too boring and we had a laugh and reminisced for a few hours about pretty much everyone we could remember. 
I think I told her quite a lot of stuff that she didn’t know about back then, thank God.. 
It was great to see Sian, as it is everyone who makes the trek to see me. 
I think I’m only there for another month. 
After that, normality, or what will become my new normality anyway… 
Scary thought. 
I would have been going skiing tomorrow, on the trip that I’ve ‘organised’ for the last 5 years or so.  
Most are still going on the trip, without me this time, and I hope they have a great time. 
I’ll miss being there though. You could say that I definitely skied the most and slept the least. 
Maybe next year?

A message from a great guy

Events


Hi Russ

I’ve just watched the video you posted of the “Freedom chair” skiing and could just imagine you watching it thinking “I’ll have some of that”. And do you know what, I don’t doubt for a minute you will.

You’ll be glad to know you are not generally the first thing that comes into my mind when I wake up !! However recently you have been the second. I had a really minor back problem over Xmas and new year which has not fully resolved yet and I am off skiing on Saturday. So my first thought when I wake up is “bugger, it still feels a bit fragile, I hope I can ski ok” and of course my second is of you. I can’t even begin to imagine what you have to go through in a normal day and I know how much you would give to be able to roll out of bed with a sore back and be off skiing next week. You have said you don’t understand when people say you are an inspiration, well think of it another way. Your situation is a great reality check to those of us fortunate enough to be able bodied at the moment. To spend more than the first minute of my day worrying about a slightly dodgy back seems so self indulgent when I think of the day you face every morning. So you are an inspiration to many, your determination, your positive outlook, your openness. It makes the rest of us keep things in perspective about the silly things we worry about.

I’m really pleased to read about your more positive thoughts recently, I’m sure they will come and go as with any of us lucky enough to be alive, but they seem to be happening more often and for longer for you which is great news. I’m sure that will just keep on happening more and more.

You will be glad to know that I have committed to getting out of my skiing plateau or rut and on Saturday I go to Flaine for a week of off piste instruction with my daughter to the ski club of Great Britain (back allowing !!). Rest assured I will have a quiet moment at the top of a run and try and get a run right for you !! I remember one morning in Val Thorens where you and I went off for a quick ski before the groups met and your patience and advice in giving me a bit of well needed instruction.

Stay strong Russ and keep smiling.

Cheers

B

Sent from my iPad