Rhys returns to RJAH after successful charity cycle challenge
A farmer who was left paralysed from the waist down after a freak accident has visited the Shropshire hospital where he was treated – after raising more than £10,000 in an incredible cycle challenge.
Rhys Lewis spent three months at the Midlands Centre for Spinal Injuries (MCSI) at The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in Oswestry following the accident in April 2014. He had been chopping down trees when one split and, despite his best efforts to get out of the way, landed across his back.
The 25-year-old’s sister Sian, along with friends Charlene Dale and Anwen Morris, hit on the idea of a fundraising cycle ride from the MCSI to Rhys’s home town of Machynlleth – and Rhys joined them for the ride using a special hand-powered cycle.
They were joined on the 50-mile ride – which was completed in 3hrs 34mins – by members of hospital staff including MCSI Ward Manager Becky Warren and nurse Sharon Warren, as well as over 70 members of the Machynlleth community including friends and team-mates from Machynlleth Rugby Club.
Returning to the hospital this week, Rhys said: “The care I received at the hospital was absolutely excellent, I couldn’t fault it at all, so I was glad to be able to give something back with the cycle ride. “It was good to go back to the unit and see all the staff again – I’ve been a few times now to talk to patients who are going through something similar. I try to lift their spirits – I tell them it’s not all doom and gloom.”
Anwen, a First Aider for the rugby club who helped organise the cycle ride, said: “We were determined to do something to say thank you for the wonderful care that Rhys received. He’s made remarkable progress and the cycle ride seemed like the perfect challenge.” The cash raised is being spilt between the Wales Air Ambulance, MCSI, and Apêl Rhys, an appeal set up to help Rhys. Becky Warren was delighted by the generous donation.
“The ride itself was an amazing, inspirational day,” she said. “I am so proud of Rhys and it was wonderful to welcome him back to the unit and see the remarkable progress he continues to make.
“It takes some kind of special person to achieve such amazing things, especially little more than 12 months since he suffered the injury, and he is that person I know this is just the start of Rhys amazing achievements to come.
"I really do respect Rhys and I think he is a fantastic person and this is why we work on spines; because of patients like him.
"I am not an emotional person but I had to hold back the tears coming into Machynlleth. It was one of my proudest moments riding into Rhys’s home town right behind him; it felt like I was taking him home.”
