The Ironman with a broken neck
Tim Don was out on a routine training ride when the accident happened. He was out in Kona for the IRONMAN World Championship – and he was vying for a podium finish. "I remember it was a white truck and I remember seeing it and skidding," recalls the IRONMAN world record holder. "He turned in front and I went into his passenger side door." Thirty minutes later, Tim woke up. He had broken his C2 vertebrae – an injury known as a 'hangman's fracture'.
In this episode, Tim recalls the events that followed -- specifically the next three months, which involved living with a carbon fibre ring drilled into his skull (known as a 'halo') to help the fracture heal. "It's like having four titanium screws screwed into your skull – open wound. From my belly button up, I could not move," he explains to Rob.
From having to sleep bolt upright in a chair, to having the screws in his skull regularly tightened – as well as even more metal drilled in – to keep the halo place, Tim lays bare the torture he went through in what he describes as "the toughest two months of my life".
Just 3-4 weeks after the accident, Tim was back in the gym
© Andrew Hinton / Red Bull Content Pool
But through sheer dogged perseverance, Tim explains to Rob how he refused to let the accident – or his agonising brace – put his hopes of competing again on hold: continuing to train in the gym, and later on the turbo trainer, to gradually build up his strength and fitness. And as he reveals in the episode, his training and tenacity didn't just pay off. It led to a comeback of epic proportions...
Now watch the film documenting Tim's road to recovery on RBTV: