How I get fit done
Nerys Pearce, 40, a former army medic from Berkshire, thought her life was over – now she faces her biggest sports hurdle
Growing up, I competed in triathlons, open-water swimming and skiing – at 22, I joined the army as a medic on the front line. I was always adventurous, but, aged 27, in 2008, my world was turned upside down.
I was riding my motorcycle in Twickenham when a car reversed off a curb illegally and crushed my legs. I severed a nerve in one leg and was left with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS).
A year of intense pain later, I had surgery to try to remedy the CRPS, but when I woke up from the anaesthetic, I couldn’t feel anything. My body had reacted to a spinal injection during surgery. I was paralysed from the chest down.
I spent the next five years in and out of hospital with unexplained kidney and bladder infections, as well as pressure sores on my body from spending so many hours lying in bed. By 2011, I had gained 8½st. My mood became so low that I attempted suicide twice.
Time passed in a blur – Iwas so heavily medicated – but a gamechanging day came in 2015 when a stranger from the charity Blesma, The Limbless Veterans walked into my hospital room. He told me he would take me skiing as part of the organisation’s campaign to keep people active after injury. It sounded crazy then, but months later, I was strapped into an adapted ski chair on the mountains of Colorado. This moment gave me a new lease of life.
With help from my carer and sister, I started training again. My shoulders were the focus; I did weight exercises like front raises to help me transfer myself from my wheelchair to my bed and the toilet.
I bought a handbike and would ride 100m with support; now I can do 100 laps unaided. I began using a rowing machine and went swimming with my sister – doing laps until I found it hard to
