A father-of-two left paralysed from the waist down in his mid-20s after falling 10ft from a ladder at a construction site, who then turned to alcohol and drugs as a coping mechanism, has said he is “celebrating rather than commiserating” the incident 30 years on by completing a skydive for charity.
On January 3, 1993, Jason Anker, then 24, felt his leg slip as he was climbing up a ladder at work and he fell to the floor – he tried to sit up, but realised he could not feel his legs and he was overcome with “sheer terror”. He was taken to a medical centre, where he was initially reassured by paramedics that he would be OK – but after an X-ray and a CT scan Jason, now 55, was told he had significant spinal injuries and would never walk again.
After an operation to insert two titanium rods in his back, he was transferred to hospital for rehabilitation, which involved lying flat on his back, being turned every three hours to “stop bed sores”, and being “wheeled into a shower and showered on a waterproof bed”. Jason, now a grandfather of two, was visited by his loved ones and he would smile, giving the impression that “everything was fine” – but in reality, he was struggling with his mental health.
