WATCH: Aviemore athlete's struggle after risky surgery
Aviemore Paralympian David Smith talks to MFR News from his hospital bed
Aviemore athlete David Smith says his recovery's reached a "hard point" after the Paralympian's life-saving spinal surgery.
He was warned that a recurring tumour on his spine would crush his spinal chord and stop him from breathing, if he didn't have the mass surgically removed.
But the London 2012 medallist was also told by medical staff that he risked becoming paralysed if he had the operation.
WATCH: ‘Surgery is now here, like any race in life I feel best prepared but also pretty scared’…
"I came out of that meeting and went back to my room and pretty much cried because I was thinking: 'Does that mean I'm never going to ride a bike? Does that mean I'm never going to ski again? Am I never going to walk down the road?"
The 38-year-old's been speaking to MFR News from his hospital bed, and he's told us that he's now finding his recovery a struggle: "The left arm still doesn't move. The left hand I can move but I have no strength. I'm still half in a wheelchair and half using a walking-stick."
WATCH: ‘After 9hr in surgery am back on ward now. Thank you so much for All the support it means the world to me’…
David's having intensive physiotherapy to teach his body how to move all over again. He said: "I feel as healthy as I've ever felt, but my body is just not doing what my mind wants it to do. Right now is a real hard point, and I would go as far as to say that this is the first time that I've really struggled through all of this."
There've been some desperate moments for the Paralympian, especially as he waits to get movement back in his arm. According to David, "I actually contemplated if it didn't come back, do I just get it amputated? All these thoughts were going through my head and definitely moments in that where I thought this is pretty scary."
But among the many low points, David's told MFR News that he had the best birthday ever when his mum visited him in hospital on the day that he turned 38: "My mum hadn't seen me walk, and I stood up and managed to walk over 10-metres. It wasn't pretty, but that made my mum's life, and it made my day."
He may have missed out on the World Championships when he got the diagnosis 3-weeks before, and he may have missed out on this summer's Rio 2016, but David Smith's determined to get back on his bike by September and cycle through the French Alps.
LISTEN: MFR News reporter Bryan Rutherford has been speaking with David Smith MBE...