My road back to running

After a skiing accident and an amputated leg, rugby player Charlie Lewis was determined to get back into sport. After 12 years, 15 operations and a prosthetic blade, he finally found the freedom to run again

Twelve years ago, I was a 19-year-old living in the French Alps, within a bubble of all things mountain. Like every bubble, it was only a matter of time until it burst. In February 2004, while skiing the back-country in Val d’Isère, I quite literally fell off the mountain, resulting in a right leg broken in several pieces. I was helicoptered to hospital, operated on immediately – and there started my adult life.

I was flown back to London, but within weeks I was back in hospital and going through the first of four major reconstructions that would span 12 years and 15 operations. Before the accident, I was on a path to what I hoped would be a career in rugby. Afterwards, any participation in impact sport was gone. I found my salvation in cycling, which took me up various mountains and along many roads.

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from Health & wellbeing | The Guardian http://ift.tt/1Tg6TKy
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