I was cycling alone on a country lane near Norwich when I went over the handlebars and landed on the top of my head. If I hadn’t been wearing a helmet, I’d have certainly died, since the ground was hard and it was like crashing on to concrete. I felt my neck concertina and my first thought was that I’d broken it. In fact, I’d broken my back in two places.
There was a tractor coming and the driver stopped. The first thing he did was dial 999, then he helped me up on to my feet. With hindsight that probably wasn’t ideal, and I remember finding it hard to breathe, but I stood there holding on to my bike and he directed the traffic round us and we waited for the ambulance. I knew it was bad, and I guess standing up made me think it wasn’t as bad as it might have been, but it was all incredibly scary.
The tractor driver asked if there was anyone I wanted to call, so I phoned my wife Lucy. I said to her: ‘I think I’m fine. I’m just going to hospital to get checked over.’ In fact I was in there for 10 days, in a back brace. It was seven years ago now. I’m still having physiotherapy every week. But, hey, I’m alive!
Craig Hodgson, 50, is a solicitor in Norwich
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