When professional mountain biker Martyn Ashton lay in an MRI scanner hours after sustaining a spinal chord injury that would paralyse him for the rest of his life, little did he know that his greatest days of riding where ahead of him.

An accident in a live stunt show in 2013 left him paralysed from the waist down and needing a wheelchair to get around.

His initial thoughts in that MRI scanner were the same ones that anyone would have in that situation. He was in turmoil. Could I still be a good dad? Could I be a good husband? How will I work and earn money?

But the competitor in him also got him thinking about he could be good and successful in sport…in a wheelchair.

Paralysed

 

“I was in a lot of pain and thinking about what was going on. I had no feeling below my midriff and it was really scary,” he said.

But he soon started thinking about finding a sport he could excel in. Getting into the top 100. Winning things.

That created an energy that drove him through the next few months and provided the inspiration to ‘get stuff done’.

A man in a blue jacket and helmet is helped on his bike by two people
Martyn is up and off on his specially-made bike

Martyn had a 12-week bed rest, rehabbed, began to get some fitness back and got used to the basics of his new situation.

But the energy and excitement remained.

“I saw others like me and I was amazed at their bravery,” said Martyn. “It was incredible to see how the human spirit comes through and finds a way to progress through devastation.

Mountain bike

 

I thought to myself: ‘If I am going to be paralysed, I may as well be really good at it’.

Martyn spoke to people in the mountain biking industry and they devised a way for him to get back on a bike and be balanced and able to go down hills and mountains using simple gravity to give him the speed he needed to move.

Just 18 months after the day of his accident, he was back bombing down a mountain trail with his mates.

“My story shows that moment in the MRI scanner was really important,” he added. “It wasn’t the end of my career, just a change in it.

Accident

 

“I have travelled the world since my accident and taken part in international events. I’ve had experiences on my bike, that have been incredible. I don’t think people would have said that was coming!

“The excitement, the energy and the passion made that possible.

“Any of us can use that passion to create a path around any barriers and achieve great things.”

Martyn’s attitude is the same attitude we see from our MobiQuip customers over and over again in the stories we hear while running our business.

We salute those people like Martyn who use passion and determination to create a path around barriers and a life without limits.

Read more: Government must take its chance to level-up for disabled people too.

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