Tennis served me well as I battled back to fitness

WHEN Kevin Simpson's back was broken in five places during a horrific industrial accident, he just couldn't accept that he'd never walk again.

He was working on an oil rig when a piece of metal tumbled from a section of moving machinery above the drill floor, falling 90ft before knocking Kevin unconscious.

However, instead of despairing, the Linlithgow man was so determined to regain his independence, he set his sights on doing all he could to get back on his feet.

"I was determined to prove the doctors wrong, especially those who said I'd never walk again," says 30-year-old Kevin.

"I also saw it as a challenge – I've always met everything head on and been determined. I wanted to look back and say I've tried everything I could have done."

These days, Kevin prides himself on being able to get around using a crutch and he says he's now fitter than he's ever been.

Now one of the world's top wheelchair tennis players, Kevin is about to fly to China to take part in next month's Paralympic Games.

"I'm in the best shape of my life so far and I'm prepared physically and mentally," he enthuses. "I'm going to take each match as it comes and play my best, enjoy it and see how far I can go."

The fact that Kevin can play tennis is nothing short of miraculous given that doctors were amazed he survived at all.

Indeed, on the 100-mile journey from the oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico to hospital in Louisiana in April 2001, Kevin almost died when his heart stopped.

Fortunately, the medic on shift that day was a quick-thinking former New Orleans paramedic who was accustomed to dealing with severe injuries, including stab and gunshot wounds.

"It was his first trip offshore, and if it wasn't for him there was no way I would have made it," says Kevin. "He got me stabilised as much as he could."

Carefully, Kevin's shattered body was moved on to a stretcher and surrounded by ice to keep his heart rate down and slow his blood loss.

The medic also worked to save his left foot, which had almost been severed, by taping it on to a crude splint.

Kevin then spent the next 13 weeks in hospital where he was treated for a broken back, fractured ribs, a punctured lung, ruptured spleen, as well as two broken legs and ankles.

As many of Kevin's vertebrae were completely shattered and the shards of bone had destroyed nerves in his back, metal rods were implanted into his spine.

Incredibly, the sheet of metal, which had fallen on to the drill deck once before the accident, had not severed Kevin's spinal chord so he would not suffer paralysis.

While Kevin admits he felt fury when he first regained consciousness, he says he was forced to shift his focus in order to recover.

"Instead of feeling angry, I was more determined and focused on the rehabilitation and trying to keep my sights positive," he explains. "I was still alive, which was the main thing. If it had hit me differently, that sheet of metal would have cut me in half."

Kevin, who received compensation from the American drilling company in an out-of-court settlement, was eventually flown back to Scotland in a specially-equipped medical jet.

He was admitted to the specialist spinal unit at the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow where he remained for 16 weeks.

Kevin now has no sensation in his right leg. Surgeons saved his left foot but he has no muscle on the lower half of this leg.

"I can feel my left leg but I can't move it," he explains. "I've got no muscle in my left leg. Below my knee, the thickness of my left leg is 2cm – it's just skin and bone.

"Even now I still get tremendous pain because I do get up on my feet and try and walk as much as I can.

"Also, because my back's fused, after I play tennis and get out of the chair, my back is just in agony. But I love to play tennis – it's tennis that's got me through everything."

In the aftermath of the accident, Kevin says the pain was "unbelievable" and he was on around 25 different types of medication.

Slowly, with the help of physiotherapists, he learned to sit up, dress himself and hoist himself into his wheelchair. "I had to learn everything again without my legs functioning," he says.

Although he was still determined to walk, Kevin was told he would need further operations to strengthen his ankles before that would be remotely possible.

And when he learned he would not be able to have the operation in Scotland, Kevin used some of his compensation money to return to hospital in America.

The keen golfer and skier remained there for almost five months and by the time he left he was able to put weight on both his ankles and stand.

After he returned, a further two years of intensive physiotherapy followed until he could walk around his Linlithgow home with the help of crutches or handrails.

Although Kevin lives alone, he says that the support of his parents Avril and Ian, who live in Bo'ness, and his brothers Robert, 36, and John, 23, has been invaluable.

"I was told I'd be much quicker in my wheelchair but I didn't listen to that," says Kevin. "Now if I'm walking long distances I'll use one elbow crutch, but I can walk about the house and into the garden.

"If it's uneven ground, I need a crutch or handrail. I still fall now and again, but I just dust myself off and get on with it."

Kevin, who wants to start coaching children wheelchair tennis after he returns from Beijing, was introduced to the sport four years ago when he met the GB squad for the Paralympic Games in Athens.

"The tennis really helps me because it's giving me a good cardiovascular workout while being in my chair," he explains.

"And when I met the GB squad, it just made me think, 'I'm going to make it to Beijing'. So I trained for it and kept up with my rehab and now I can't believe it's come true."

Remarkably, throughout his painstaking recovery, which has involved 17 operations in all, Kevin says he's never felt despondent.

"Hopeless is not a word that's in my dictionary," he smiles. "All my pals would say they didn't know anyone else who could have done what I have but I've always been determined, met everything head on and given everything, no matter what I'm doing."


LOTHIANS' BEIJING HOPEFULS
THERE are 206 athletes from the UK who are heading to China for the Paralympic Games, which open in Beijing on September 6.

The Paralympics take place in the same city and year as the Olympic Games and this year boast one of the biggest Great Britain teams of all time.

Joining Kevin Simpson in Beijing will be a further five athletes from the Lothians, including 45-year-old gold medallist and swimmer James Anderson MBE, left. Known as Jim the Swim, he has cerebral palsy and is based in Broxburn. He will be joined on the swimming team by Loanhead teenager Sean Fraser.

Sean, 18, who also has cerebral palsy, hopes to impress in the 100m backstroke, 100m breaststroke, 100m freestyle and 50m freestyle.

At just 17, Penicuik teenager Mark Robertson, top right, is the youngest member of the Great Britain cerebral palsy football squad and he'll be playing in a seven-a-side tournament.

Newcomer Sam Ingram, who was born with conal dystrophy, meaning he is extremely short-sighted and does not see in colour, is one of four British judo athletes. The Edinburgh-based 23-year-old won silver on his World Championship debut last year.

Livingston-born sprinter Stephen Payton, 31, below, hopes to add to his 11 Paralympic medals in his fourth and final Games.

The former Inveramond Community High School pupil was born with minimal cerebral palsy and has been running in both the 200m and 400m events since 1994.