Ruari broke his neck in 2011 when he was only 23 from slipping as he dived into a swimming pool leaving him with damage to the spinal cord at C4/C5. He has Brown Sequard syndrome so the left side is stronger than the right but the stronger side has reduced sensation to temperature/pain. Initially the doctors told Ruari he may not walk again but within a few months in hospital he was able to walk with 2 crutches. He remained on 2 crutches for around 1 year, then moved to using 1 crutch for around another year and has now been crutch free for over 7 years.
Although Ruari can now walk unaided it took him a long time to adjust to his injury as he had big dreams for his future and exciting adventures ahead. He went from a world where being active and playing sport meant everything to him to barely being able to put on a pair of socks. It was then he heard about the M2M charity and felt that a trip to the mountains could be the perfect goal to really focus him and push forward his mental and physical progress & rehabilitation to another level. Ruari was grateful to have the Viking Challenge as a target to work towards to aid his rehabilitation and came back very content. He said “The trip itself had plenty of surprises which pushed me to the limit physically (ice and rock climbing) and at times mentally. The vertical rock/ice climbs brought me a huge sense of achievement, happiness and a buzz I hadn’t felt in a long time and they have also inspired me to try my hand at more rock climbing which I have done since I have come home!”
“Throughout the process Lois and Ed have provided me with so much support and I am very happy that they chose me to come on this trip with them and I look forward to participating in more events and trip with them in future!”
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