By Hanna Rantala
LONDON (Reuters) – Former professional rugby player Ed Jackson, who defied medical opinion by learning to walk again after a near-fatal spinal cord injury, says victims of trauma should resist the impulse to suffer in silence.
Jackson broke his neck when he mistakenly dived into the shallow end of a swimming pool in 2017. He was paralysed from the shoulders down and told he would never walk again.
He shares his journey to recovery in the documentary film “The Mountain Within Me”, which shows him challenging his prognosis.
Home videos capture the moment his toes start moving and track the arduous rehabilitation work that leads to him walking for the first time six months later.
It sees Jackson climbing Snowdon, the tallest mountain in Wales, as he marks the first anniversary of his accident and setting his sights on higher peaks as his physical condition improves and his ambitions grow.
“Being told you’re not going to walk again and then climbing a mountain is quite symbolic, so I wanted to do that to try and send some hope,” Jackson, now 35, said. “And then I got hooked on it. So, let’s see how high we can go. It’s led me to some pretty ridiculous places which you’ll see in the film.”
Directed by Polly Steele, the documentary focuses on Jackson’s 2022 trip to Nepal and attempt to summit the 7,000-metre Himlung Himal, as well as another vertigo-inducing climb in the French Alps.
His recovery journey is told through archive footage, mobile phone videos, social media posts and interviews with his family.
Looking back and hearing the testimonies of his loved ones was not easy, Jackson said.
“I think connecting with it in such an intense way during the film and really going in deep did bring some emotions to the surface,” he said.
“I wanted to be as raw and honest as possible because that’s really the only way to help people,” said Jackson, who with his wife Lois founded the Millimetres 2 Mountains charity to help others struggling with trauma.
Asked if he had any advice, Jackson said:
“The first thing people do when they’ve been through trauma is isolate themselves. So, just be open and honest about your struggles, don’t suffer in silence.”
And for anybody else, “You’re lucky to be alive in the first place, so get out there, say ‘yes’ to stuff and go on adventures.”
“The Mountain Within Me” is in UK cinemas from Aug. 23.
(Reporting by Hanna Rantala; editing by Giles Elgood)
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