'My aim is the Paralympics after I fell from cliff'

A man who was left unable to walk after falling from a cliff is aiming to reach the Invictus Games and Paralympics.

Nick Hewitt, from Great Blakenham, in Suffolk, had been undertaking an army training exercise when he fell.

While initially being able to walk, his condition deteriorated and he now uses a wheelchair.

With sport being a large part of his life, he is fundraising to buy himself a racing wheelchair to take on a number of prestigious competitions.

At the end of 2010, Mr Hewitt was undertaking the training exercise when he fell about 20ft (6.096m) from a cliff.

"It was a training exercise and it was getting from one point to another as quick as you can and I did it very quickly," he explained.

"It was misfooting and that was that really.

"I didn't want to lose my career in the army so for me it was, 'I'm fine, I can stand, I can walk, I'm absolutely fine', but I wasn't."

After leaving the army a year later, Mr Hewitt began to suffer with back problems and sometimes faced days where he could not move due to the pain.

He began to make use of walking sticks and moved to crutches.

"One day really sticks in my mind - we tried to take our son to school and we drove halfway thinking maybe I could do the other half by foot," he said.

"I got out of the car, got on the crutches, and I got about three metres and I couldn't even get back to the car."

Hospital staff told Mr Hewitt to consider a wheelchair when they believed his condition would continue deteriorating.

He has now been in a wheelchair for almost four years and has a positive outlook on life.

"I've got freedom, that's the main thing. I seem to have a life back," he explained.

"The first time the NHS gave me a wheelchair, we went to Felixstowe and we went up and down the front. I hadn't been able to do that for years.

"It was a hard moment because this is my life in a wheelchair, but at the same time I've managed to go further than what I'd been able to go for years.

"It was a happy moment, but a sad moment at the same time.

"This is life now, you're not going to change it so you're either depressed about it or you're happy about it. I'm happy about it."

Sport is a huge part of Mr Hewitt's life and he has always loved bodybuilding.

However several years ago he noticed there was not a wheelchair division at bodybuilding competitions in the UK and he sought to change this.

He has won several competitions since but he has also always loved athletics.

He joined the Orwell Panthers Athletics Club which is for disabled athletes in Suffolk.

The club has a racing wheelchair he is able to make use of during training sessions on Wednesday nights.

However Mr Hewitt wants to buy his own that will specifically fit him.

He hopes this will allow him to take on not only the Invictus Games in 2027 but the Paralympic Games in 2028.

Ahead of this, he wants to do the London Marathon in a racing chair.

He said having his own chair would give him enough time to practice.

"[The chair would be] very, very different - you're in a kneeling position low down, you have to get everything right," he said.

"There's nothing like being able to practice on that, there isn't anything like a racing wheelchair."

Mr Hewitt has launched a fundraising page with a target of £4,000.

So far, £1,835 has been donated which Mr Hewitt said had left him feeling emotional.

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