A dad of three has recalled the moment he realised he was unable to move his body after a cycling accident left him paralysed, laying alone on the ground, on the Mirror’s new Back from the Brink podcast
Seven years ago, Rae Saleem’s life was about to take a positive turn. The father of three from Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, had been told that morning he had landed a new job after years of financial stress and freelance work. He was on the cusp of a fresh start, having also recently committed to a fitness journey that would help him lose weight and improve his health, following years of neglect.
The now 49-year-old told the Mirror’s Back from the Brink Podcast: “I was 18 stone and I was just getting bigger and bigger, my weight was really a big concern. There was financial pressure too as I was the only one working. I thought, this is going to be my life, this is how I’m going to live.
“I started to listen to some of these motivational talks on the internet and it got me inspired. The key was that it got me thinking about the things I could control, like my health and where I wanna be. I wanted to be the best version of myself. I then started getting into fitness and living a healthier lifestyle and it seemed like everything else was starting to follow.”
Keen to squeeze in one last workout session before throwing himself into his new role on Monday, Rae jumped on his bike to head to the gym. But what began as a routine ride quickly turned into a nightmare. Before he had even made it to the gym, the front wheel of Rae’s bike hit the edge of a pavement, sending him flying over the handlebars and crashing headfirst into the ground. The impact left him with life changing injuries.
He recalled: “Breaking my nose, my skull, teeth were gone and then my body landed on top of my neck, all 17-18 stone on my neck. It gave me a spinal cord injury in the third and fourth vertebrae. And just like that, in the flick of a switch, I was paralysed from the neck down.”
“I still remember after that big thud, I tried to get up and look around but I couldn’t. I could see out of the corner of one eye and all I could see was this blood oozing out from my head and from my face. Initially thinking I’m going to be late to go to the gym, it suddenly dawned on me ‘wow, I actually can’t move’.”
Luckily, a passer-by called for help and Rae was rushed to Barnet Hospital, but the severity of his injuries meant he had to be transferred to the Royal London Major Trauma Unit. Doctors performed several tests and delivered chilling news; if he had been left on the ground for just 10 minutes longer, he would not have survived, as his injuries were affecting his diaphragm and breathing.
He described being inside a body that wouldn’t move: “When I looked down at my feet, looking down at your body and your body does not respond, was such a surreal moment. You’re looking at your fingers and trying to tell you fingers to move or lift up and there was nothing. Nothing.”
Rae had to undergo a number of emergency surgeries to reduce swelling in his neck and enable him to breathe again. He added: “They had to open up my head, they had to put titanium plates inside my skull because I had a brain bleed from the impact of the crash.”
Despite making it through the operations, the future still looked bleak. Rae’s doctors told him he would likely never walk or live independently again. Devastated, Rae was transferred to Stanmore Spinal Rehab Centre, where his days were filled with relentless physiotherapy. The process was gruelling, as he had to relearn how to perform simple tasks, such as feeding himself. Although progress seemed slow, Rae refused to give up. Then one day, a miracle happened.
He recalled the moment vividly: “I remember looking down at my toes and all of the sudden I can see a quiver. That for me was my hallelujah moment. From being told I was never going to walk again, or do anything again, this was a little spark that gave me a little bit of hope.
“I remember calling the nurse over and asking ‘am I seeing this correctly, am I hallucinating?’ It was slowly happening, my left leg started to come back and then my right leg came back.”
With renewed determination, Rae threw himself into his recovery. He explained: “I was thinking, let’s just see what version of me I can be. It’s not that I’m going to be how I was before, but let’s just keep a positive mindset, let’s keep going, let’s keep pushing and see where this journey is going to take me.”
Over time and with more and more feeling and movement returning to his limbs, he defied all odds. He eventually took his first steps again and in an extraordinary moment of victory, Rae walked out of the rehab centre—something his doctors had once thought impossible – albeit with a little help.
Remarkably, just 18 months after his accident, he completed a 10k run in under an hour and 10 minutes. The event, which was held to raise funds for victims of the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka, marked a turning point for Rae. He said: “I thought, if I can walk a bit of this run, my story might inspire people to sponsor and donate. If I could show myself being part of it, it would drive people to hopefully support and raise some money for it. Seeing the number of people my story drew in made me realise that my journey wasn’t just about me anymore. It got me thinking what else I could do.”
Rae became passionate about helping people suffering from spinal cord injuries. To mark two years since his accident, he got back on the very same bike that had caused his injury and completed a 100k ride in six hours. This time, it wasn’t just for himself—it was to raise money for a charity that had helped him throughout his recovery. “If I could do it, then others could too,” Rae says.
Now, Rae regularly challenges himself, completing marathons, mountain climbs, ultramarathons, and 100-mile bike rides to raise money for charity. His ultimate goal is to use his story to inspire as many people as possible. He recently quit his corporate job to pursue a career as a motivational speaker.
He told host Cecilia Adamou that being in hospital unable to move made him realise what was really important in life. He said: “It used to be about having that big house, that big car, doing these great things and then remembering lying in that hospital bed looking at a patient beside me and seeing how that person was able to get up out of their bed and go to the toilet by themselves and just think ‘give me that’.”
Now, he’s using every opportunity he can to make the most of his second chance at life and encouraged others to do the same, saying: “Grab every opportunity you can, you don’t know what’s around the corner. You don’t know how blessed you are to be able to have opportunities and you don’t know when those opportunities are going to be taken away. Have no regrets and don’t give up.”
You can now listen to Rae’s full interview on the Mirror’s brand new podcast, Back from the Brink. New episodes are available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts every Friday.
