Chair-racer from Essex hopes to inspire other people with disabilities
Nick Hewitt from Chelmsford fell 15ft while on a military exercise and lost the use of his legs, he is now training to reach the Paralympics
While on a training exercise in the army, Nick's Hewitt from Chelmsford mis-stepped causing him to slip 15ft down down a cliff where he injured his back.
At the time, he was able to walk away, but as he says "the damage was done."
He was then medically discharged from the army and began noticing severe pain when doing simple tasks like picking up a pen, which would "put him out" for a week.
He would lean to one side and be laid up for periods of time which became longer and longer.
He said they went through every avenue to try and help, including pain blockers every 3-4 months which he has now stopped but continues to be on lots of medication to help with the pain.
As a result, he and medical professionals decided using a wheelchair would be the best course of action for him.
"The day I went over to the chair, we were like right let's go out as a family we'll go and do something. And we went to Felixstowe and I could go up and down the front - that was something I hadn't done for years."
For Nick using the chair has given him the opportunity to take back the part of his life he thought he had lost.
"In one sense it's like okay so my life is in a chair and in another sense it's I've got my freedom.
"It's good, i wouldn't ever complain, I am happier now then I have been, probably ever."
"...I've got a life and i can do stuff."
Nick came from an athletic household and has always loved sports. He turned pro in bodybuilding making him the only British pro bodybuilder in a wheelchair, and he qualified for the Olympia twice and has done two Arnold classics where he placed 4th and 2nd.
But his love of athletics remained and he joined the disability group, the Orwell Panthers where he began chair racing.
He has found that exercise helps him to stay in a healthy mindset.
"I absolutely love chair racing, I am just one of those people that needs a focus and my focus wouldn't just be right I am going to go racing in a chair.
"If I am doing something, I need to be the best of it."
"...For me, I need to train, and if I didn't train, I think I'd be a very different person. I don't think I'd be happy in life. Don't get me wrong my family life is amazing, but I need that.. so if I were to stop, I think I'd get very depressed. So I have no plans of stopping."
He is now training to take part in the Invictus Games and then hopefully onto the Paralympics.
As a result, he is now fundraising for a racing bike, which costs £4000. He explained that a racing bike has to be built to the individual specifically.
"It's got to be made for me... the measurements need to fit you to a millimetre, and no one else's chair is going to do that...
"Once you have your measurements taken you're still looking at a good 4 months for your chair to be built for you.
"It will make a massive difference, just everything, the way you move in the chair, the way that chair holds you, the way you push on the rims of the chair, everything is made for you, to fit you and everything about your body. it's part of you."
we asked why this is something he wants to do.
"For me, it's more to prove that I can do it, not just for me but for my kids as well. "Yes we are living with a disability but no, it doesn't stop you from doing what you set out to do.
"If I can just inspire one person I'd be happy to do that."