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ROAD TO RECOVERY: Martin Witt

SIX months after being paralysed in a motocross accident, Martin Witt is a sporting winner.

He joined five spinal injury patients from Salisbury District Hospital in the national Inter-Spinal Unit Games at the Stoke Mandeville Stadium in Aylesbury last month. The team beat 11 others to the title.

Mr Witt came second in bowls and air rifle shooting and competed in fencing, badminton and swimming.

He said: "All our team were sporty people and it was fantastic to win."

Mr Witt, 43, of Castle Combe, was temporarily paralysed after the accident at Ford near Chippenham in October. He suffered a spinal bleed in his neck, which affected the nearby nerves.

He fell off his bike and was getting up when another bike struck him. His head and neck took the full impact.

Mr Witt returned to motocross last year after a ten-year break from a sport in which he achieved a top-ten British championship finish.

Mr Witt, a self-employed motor mechanic, spent six weeks in the Royal United Hospital, Bath, after which he was moved to Salisbury's spinal unit where he spent just over two months.

A month after the accident he was relieved to find he had feeling in his arms and legs.

His doctor was hopeful that Mr Witt, a former pupil of Castle Combe School and Sheldon School in Chippenham, would make a good recovery. but the hardest thing was learning to walk again.

He said: "It's like I was learning to walk with a different set of legs. I thought once I could stand up, taking steps would come naturally to me, but it was difficult.

"I walk with a limp but it's improving all the time."

Mr Witt goes back to the hospital every six weeks and attends weekly physiotherapy sessions at Chippenham Hospital. He is also getting fitter by cycling. He returned home in March and would like to thank people who have raised money for him at his pub, the White Hart, and the Chipping Sodbury Motocross Club, where he is a member.

Mr Witt, who has two sons, Lee, 20, and James, seven, hopes to return to work but knows there are no guarantees.

He said: "I'm starting to do little jobs. The biggest problem is that the feeling in my hands is not as good as it was.

"I will never be the same as I was two minutes before the accident but I think if you keep positive and keep asking questions of your body you keep making improvements.

"I'm lucky compared to some people who have spinal injuries. I didn't damage my spinal cord very much and I can walk again. I'm ever so pleased with how I'm doing."

11:29am Thursday 8th May 2008

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