Paralysed, but Michael’s back on his bike

A mountain biker paralysed from the neck down in a freak accident is planning a return to the hills in an off-road wheelchair.

Keen cyclist Michael Bonney suffered catastrophic injuries and was left tetraplegic in a wheelchair after falling from his bike two years ago.

But The Sunday Post can reveal he is planning a return to the Lakeland fells in a £12,000 special all-terrain wheelchair.

The lightweight Boma 7 chair can be piloted by a chin-operated joystick, and is specially designed to scale steep slopes. Its rugged design means it can climb hills and tackle rugged train and even deep mud.

“Hopefully I will get the same feeling as I did on a mountain bike,” he said. “That sense of independence from what’s going on around you in life.”

Last Tuesday marked two years since Michael, 56, crashed his bike during a cycling event, severing his spinal cord.

It left him with the same level of paralysis as the late Superman actor, Christopher Reeve, who was injured in a horse riding fall.

Michael, from Penrith, Cumbria, amazed medics by recovering enough to be discharged from hospital, just three months after the horror crash.

He has since continued to surpass all expectations, including breathing without a ventilator, a milestone experts never thought he would reach.

Before the crash Michael spent every spare moment outside on his bike, weaving around Cumbrian country lanes, or slogging up stunning Lake District fells.

Recently he has barely been able to get outside but is determined to make a dream return to the outdoors.

“Just to have that freedom to go up the fell above Ullswater and look down on the lake it’s something I used to do every Friday,” said Michael, who is planning his first foray into the peaks when the weather improves.

Despite having no movement or feeling below his neck, the former managing director of Orange Mountain Bikes is also set to resume his career, by setting up a business consultancy.

Using infrared technology which links to his glasses and a voice recognition system, Michael has full use of his laptop and the means of sharing his decades of business experience.

“I needed to do something,” he added. “Without the mental part of life you’ve got nothing really.”

Michael admits to having low moments. Last month wife Linzi, 46, who he married in hospital weeks after the crash, lost her dad. All he wanted to do was hug her, but he couldn’t.

“It’s the little things that are actually big things and if there’s anything which would give me enough feeling to touch someone and hug them, that’s more important than walking again.

“I will cope in a wheelchair but not being able to touch people is the cruellest.”

His pals are currently embroiled in a fund-raising drive to buy the rugged contraption .

If you would like to donate, visit gofundme.com/ride4michael.