Fitness
How one man fought through paralysis to ride 300km for spinal cord research
Nearly a decade after a motorcycle accident left him paralysed, 29-year-old Charles Brice completed a hand-powered 300km journey and raised $130k for Wings for Life in the process. This is his story.
It’s a regular Saturday in June, 2010, but Charles Brice’s life is about to change forever.
The 19-year-old has been working on a friend’s family farm in Riverland, South Australia, for a few weeks. In a bid to meet some new people, he heads out for a casual motorbike ride with a couple of friends and some other riders he doesn’t know.
All is going smoothly until, when approaching a bend just outside Paruna, the front wheel of Charles’ bike catches a few bumps. These things happen when riding motorbikes, of course, but these particular bumps don’t let up – they get worse. Suddenly, his wheel locks into one of the bumps and Charles is sent flying.
His head, then his neck, are the first parts of his body to make contact with the road.
I wouldn't say I had bad days. It was more bad moments. But I just tried to remind myself how lucky I was, just to be alive.
Charles lost consciousness briefly but quickly came to. At the time, he was riding at the back of the pack, and his riding companions were a fair way in front. The crew would regroup every 15 or 20 minutes, and Charles knew it’d be a little while until they noticed something was wrong. “It felt like I was laying there for a lifetime,” he remembers. “It was probably maybe just 20 or 30 minutes.”
He knew he needed help, but when he tried to reach for his phone, he realised something was seriously wrong: he couldn’t move. At all. “That was the moment I thought, ‘Shit, I’m in a bit of trouble here’,” he says.
Charles had fractured his C5 and C6 vertebrae.
© Supplied
Though he didn’t know at the time, Charles had fractured his C5 and C6 vertebrae, a fact that meant he was now a quadriplegic. He spent 51 days in ICU, then another 21 days in the spinal unit at Royal Adelaide Hospital, then 14 months at a rehabilitation centre.
I don’t get angry about it. I don’t sit there and ask, ‘Why me?’. For me, that's just a waste of emotions, and it's energy you could be putting into a better attitude.
Charles was operated on and had the bones in his neck fused together. He was ventilated for a long time, and eventually had to be weaned off it. Then he had to focus on letting his body heal, on regaining as much strength as he could, and on adjusting to his new life as a quadriplegic.
Through it all, he was buoyed by the constant supportive presence of his loved ones, and he did what he could to maintain a positive outlook. “I wouldn't say I had bad days,” he says. “It was more bad moments, where things seemed to be a little too tough to handle. But I just tried to remind myself how lucky I was, just to be alive and be in the position that I was. I was quite fortunate.”
Charles was joined by over 20 other riders during 'Wheel to Walk'.
© Courtesy of Charles Brice
During his prolonged hospital stay and rehab process, the doctors ran him through his prognosis, and tried to give him an idea of how his life might turn out from here, based on other patients they’d seen. They said he’d need a lot of care, and that there’d be a lot of things he’d never be able to do, or at least never be able to do by himself. Rather than get too down about any of this, Charles saw his new life as a challenge that he needed to embrace.
Fast forward the best part of a decade, and Charles has graduated from university and is working as a digital journalist for the ABC. He lives by himself, and he’s just regained his driver’s license. But most impressively, in late October, he completed a 300 kilometre ride on a hand cycle (he has some movement in his hands and arms), and raised over $130,000 for spinal cord research in the process.
An enormous $100,000 of that money will be donated to the Wings for Life foundation to help support spinal cord research, with the remaining $30,000 to be put aside to use for future fundraising efforts.
Having all that support around me was just unreal. The morale of that whole group was the biggest highlight for me.
For the ride, Charles returned to the site of his accident and was joined by over 20 other riders – mostly friends and family – as he rode through Loxton, Swan Reach, Tanunda and all the way onwards to Adelaide, where he was driven to hospital some 10 years previous. He’s become passionate about raising awareness about spinal cord injuries because, in his own words, “they don’t discriminate”.
Wheel to Walk, as it was called, took the best part of a week to complete and, by his own admission, was one of the toughest things Charles has ever done. “I don’t have full function in my arms, but enough to power through on a hand cycle,” he says.
Charles celebrates with friends in Adelaide, mission complete.
© Courtesy of Charles Brice
“I knew it was going to be tough, and there were a lot of moments when I just didn’t want to be there, but having all that support around me was just unreal. The morale of that whole group was the biggest highlight for me.”
For Charles, dealing with his life-changing injuries has been as much about adopting an unwavering and positive mindset as it has anything else. “Even before my accident, I remember someone said to me once, ‘Why worry about the things that you can't change?’” he remembers. “Ever since I heard that, I've tried to live life that way. Yeah, it gets frustrating when I can’t do certain things, but I don’t get angry about it. I don’t sit there and ask, ‘Why me?’. For me, that's just a waste of emotions, and it's energy you could be putting into a better attitude.”
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You can still donate to Charles’ Wheel to Walk fundraiser over on the official website.
