Paralympian hero Smith gets back onto a proper bike
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Just a few months after his dream of cycling at the Rio Games was shattered by a life-threatening tumour, brave paralympian David Smith has got back on a bike for the first time.
For the incredible Smith it is yet another incredible battle back to health.
The 37-year-old was left temporarily paralysed from the neck down after doctors removed a tennis ball-sized lump from his spine in 2010.
The Aviemore-born athlete went on to win a rowing gold medal at London 2012 after spending a month learning to walk again.
Smith planned to switch to cycling to compete at Rio 2016 but in January he learned his tumour had grown back and risked cutting off his ability to breathe.
Surgeons removed the tumour for the third time in March but the nine hour operation left Mr Smith struggling to move the left side of his body, ending his plans to compete in Brazil.
Now the athlete said it was "fun" to be back on a proper bicycle for the first time in 16 weeks.
The athlete was able to push the pedals on a bike mounted in a fixed position on an indoor turbo trainer. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az3knZmkOVg).
He had previously even cycled on a trike along hospital corridors as reported by the Strathy.
While recovering in hospital, Smith learned about the Route des Grandes Alpes, a gruelling 400-mile cycle across 17 of the highest mountains in France, and has set his mind on conquering the challenge in September.
The route between Thonon-les-Bains and Menton totals around 50,000 feet of ascent.
"As soon as I can I will be on my bike training for it," previously said Smith from his bed at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.
"This has been the worst operation yet but the best I have handled it. The first time I did a lot of crying. This time I took advice and approached it with a determination to be grateful. I have a choice - I can be happy and look on every day as a challenge. That is what I have chosen.
"The first thing I do every day is start it with a smile and concentrate on the things I am grateful for.
"If I had not had the operation I would have died.
"I am so grateful for all the messages I have received - I read every one. They give me so much energy.
"Always think what you can do, not what you can’t."
Smith won gold in rowing at the London Paralympics in 2012 and hoped to compete in Rio this summer in cycling, despite learning that a tumour on his spine had returned.
He planned to put off surgery until after this summer’s games but received the news the growing tumour was just 8mm from his spine and if left would crush his spinal cord and stop him breathing.
Smith previously won gold following two operations on his spine and was briefly left paralysed after major surgery in 2010 which involved surgeons cutting into his spinal cord and removing three vertebrae.
Although initially unable to walk, he was determined to return to sport and as complications caused by the surgery ruled out rowing, he turned to paracycling instead – setting his sights on Rio.
Smith was born with a club foot but represented Great Britain in able-bodied karate between 1993-1999 and bobsleigh from 2002-2008 before turning to paralympic events.
He was awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honours list for 2012.
In June 2015, seven months after his previous surgery, he cycled up Mont Ventoux in France three times in one day!
