Hayling Island man has become a personal trainer - despite being paralysed in a motocross accident

Mike Newman, 30, became paralysed after being thrown from his bike during a motocross practice leaving him with his L3 vertebrae shattered, a punctured lung and a fractured tailbone and pelvis, in June 2019.

The personal trainer, from Hayling Island, was rushed to hospital in a helicopter, and spent almost six months in hospital trying to recovery from his injuries, after doctors told him he might never walk again.

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But after almost four years of recovery, Mike has broken several physical barriers from being able to walk short distances, gaining his personal trainer licence and ‘being the fittest’ he’s ‘ever been’.

Mike said: ‘I was on a motocross track when my bike hit a rock and the accelerator just pinged. I got thrown off, and I landed on my back when I just felt it explode beneath me.

‘I tried to get up, but I couldn’t move. I got airlifted to hospital and had metal rods inserted into my back to help with the break.

‘Because my nerves were all messed up, I couldn’t feel my legs at all, and it really affected my bowels, so I had to use a catheter for quite some time. My legs ended up just withering away to skin and bone, I couldn't feel them at all, and when the feeling came back, they were incredibly weak, almost lifeless.

‘I had to stay in the hospital for around five and a half months, whilst waiting to go to a spinal rehab centre, as I wasn’t able to go back home because it wasn’t accessible.

‘My wounds got infected during my stay in hospital, so they had to cut me back open to clean the wounds which wasn't ideal.

‘Then in February 2020, I ended up snapping the rods in my back which led to me being there for another month whilst I was fixed up.’

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After being discharged, Mike made it his mission to get back on his feet and learn to walk again.

While learning to regain his steps, Mike used a range of assistive equipment such as a wheelchair and Zimmer frame.

He adds: ‘I had physiotherapy at first to assist me with getting strength back in my legs, but with Covid 19 causing a full-scale lockdown in March 2020, that ended up stopping quite abruptly.

‘I spent the lockdown walking around my house with a Zimmer frame, standing frame, crutches and a wheel chair.

‘Using the frames was a really odd experience as there was no feeling in my legs for quite some time, so I kind of had to just drag my feet and legs along and rely on my upper body strength.

‘One of my biggest goals was to be able to use the bathroom myself again, and it felt like such an achievement to independently use the toilet rather than having to use a catheter.

‘When lockdown restrictions lifted slightly, I pushed myself to go to the gym to work out and strengthen up my legs which had become super weak.

‘Through the training and pushing myself to walk, the feeling started to come back to my legs which was crazy, and I found I was able to stand and walk for short periods of time.

‘Although feeling came back to one leg way before the other, so I ended up losing my balance quite a lot and slipping here and there.’

Once he felt strong enough, Mike decided to retrain for his personal trainer licence, and was the first to complete the course in a wheelchair.

He’s now hoping to use his experience of paralysis to help train other people in a similar situation to give them the new hope they need to get back on their feet again.

He explains: ‘When I was in spinal rehab, everyone in the ward was having an extremely difficult time as each one was affected by some sort of paralysis.

‘There was a lad I got chatting with on the ward, who was just at a point of giving up, he never thought he’d walk again.

‘I decided to just befriend him and drag him along with me to the gym every time I went and told him that he would get there.

‘He recently sent me a video of himself walking up and down the stairs for the first time in years, and it gave me that inspiration I needed to try and help others.’

Mike credits his friends and family for helping him through his rehabilitation after his accident, and love how much they have inspired him to keep going.

He said: ‘My partner, Emma-Jane, 29, has really pushed me out of my comfort zone and always challenged me to push past what I thought my limits were.

‘I recently danced with her for the first time which felt amazing, and as she’s a pole dance instructor, she’s even had me give the pole a go!

‘I think having my mum, friends and Emma-Jane be there for me throughout all of this, has made what would have been a very isolated period in my life, turn out to be one of my most progressive and challenging times where I have come out ten times better on the other side.

‘I may never be back to 100 per cent, and still need my wheelchair when I over-exert myself, but I’ve come so far and I’m so proud.”

You can follow Mike and his journey on TikTok at paralysed_to_pt