High Fives with Andy Trollope an inspiration to us all

The date is 27^th July 2008 a day Andy Trollope will never forget.

While racing the Maxxis British championship Andy sustained injuries to his back which resulted in him being paralysed from just below the chest. We caught up with Andy to see how life has changed over the last year or so.

MOTO – It has been quite a journey for you over the last year or so, please give the readers some background on what injury you suffered at Foxhill in 2008?

“I can’t believe the year since the accident has passed so quickly. I was competing at the Foxhills round of the British championships in on 27th of July 08 when I had a crash coming into the right hander at the bottom of the last big downhill. I knew it was going to happen just before I got to the corner as I could feel that my suspension was bottomed and I could see some big braking bumps in front of me and I just thought I am going over the bars when I hit that but was not worried as I have been over the bars loads of times ha-ha. Unfortunately so I am told as I have no recollection of anything after until the following Tuesday I went head first into the banked corner and broke my back. My injury is what is medically known as a T5 complete spinal cord injury which basically means that I am paralysed from just below my chest with no sensation any where below it. My spine was actually broken at T5 T6 T7 and T8, I have had a bone taken out of my hip and used to repair the damaged vertebrae and have metal fixation from T5 to T8. What happens when you have an injury like mine is that apart from the obvious not walking you find that because I’m injured at chest level and not the waist you have no balance or abdominal muscles to stabilise you so the first thing you get taught in hospital is how to use your head and body to balance and stabilise yourself and sometimes laugh at how I first got out of my hospital bed I was like a baby I could not sit up unaided and if I was left alone I would just simply fall over from a sitting position but no thanks to hard work and a lot of physio in Stoke Mandeville spinal unit I am completely independent in all aspects of my life and have even gone back to my old job as a motor mechanic.”

MOTO – What plans do you have for the future?

“Plans for the future I have many, I am involved of lots of wheel chair sports from tennis to hopefully competing in the London marathon in 2010 and concentrating on building my business up, I am also hoping to compete in some quad enduros and I have been speaking to Simon Lawson about the adaption’s he has made to his bike and would love to get back on two wheels around a motocross track in the near future although I need to get clearance from Laura for that one ha-ha.”

MOTO – So your interest in motocross is still there and do you still go to the races?

“Yes I still go to motocross as often as I can I have been to the Spanish GP at Bellpuig and the organiser over there were fantastic they let us get the car right to the track and take us all around the circuit no special passes just a disabled blue badge really nice guys, I have also been to the British GP and Claudio from Goldentyre got me a pass for a quad and pit passes and my friend lent me a brand new KTM 450 quad and we strapped my wheel chair to the back of it and I had a brilliant weekend so a big thank you to all those that helped me out there. I also went back to Foxhill this year for the British as its close to my home town of Salisbury and again had a lot of help with passes and a trip around the track in the Land Rover which gave me some of the best views of the track so a big thanks to those guys as well. I hope to get to a few more events in the UK next year as I still love the sport as much as ever I would love to get my business profitable enough to start or at least help out with a race team but we’re not there yet.”

MOTO – How has it affected your life, I hear you’re getting married?

“I get asked that question a lot and to be honest I don’t really know, I wouldn’t say that my life is any better or worse since the accident it’s just a lot harder and thing take more time and planning. It has definitely make me take a look at life and the things that were always important to me still are important but the order in which they come has definitely changed. It has definitely brought me closer to my friends and family. And no you are correct I got married to my fiancée Laura on the 5th of September.”

MOTO – If you could pass on one piece of advice to a rider recently injured what would it be?

“If I had any advice to give to any rider who is unfortunate enough to have been recently injured it would probably be no matter how bad things seem now things definitely do get better keep positive and don’t alienate those around you and anything is possible if you really want to do something, there is always a way, look at me within a year of being injured I have been skiing, I’ve been up and down Mount Snowdon and I still enjoying motocross and I’ve got married – just stay positive.”

MOTO – Andy many thanks for this and see you at the races in 2010.

Tags: 2008, advice, andy trollope, foxhill, injury, ktm, salisbury, snowdon