Australian BMX star Sam Willoughby has returned home after five months in hospital with spinal injuries. The two-time Olympian broke his back when he landed on his head in a crash in California during training in September and has been unable to walk since the accident, receiving intense spinal cord injury treatment at a specialist hospital in Denver.
“Sam left Denver rehab hospital on New Year’s Eve and arrived home in San Diego to a welcome home party with friends and family to bring in the New Year,” his fiancée Alise Post told Cycling Australia’s website.
The 25-year-old Willoughby’s goal is to walk down the aisle when the couple wed in April. Post, who has raised more than $240,000 to aid Willoughby’s recovery, said their home had been modified to support the London 2012 silver medallist’s treatment.
“These changes to our house enabled Sam to begin therapy straight away on 2 January,” she said. “Sam continues to see small gains in sensation and function, which leaves him encouraged to keep working in this setting for as long as needed and striving for more and every therapy session.
“He continues to show daily motivation to get better and work his hardest, leaving no stones unturned.”
Willoughby suffered fractures to his C6 and C7 vertebrae, severely compressing his spinal cord and leaving him with no movement below the chest. He underwent surgery to remove the C6 vertebrae. Willoughby said last year the accident happened during a “routine warm-up” on a track with which he was highly familiar.
“It’s a long way to go but when we get married I want to walk down the aisle,” he told the Nine Network’s 60 Minutes in October. “I’m not going to sit in this [wheelchair] for the rest of my life.”
