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A 69-year-old was left paralysed from the neck down after a freak accident during his son’s stag weekend.
Nick Ashdown, a retired business analyst from East Yorkshire, is now rekindling his passion for cycling after making a remarkable recovery.
Mr Ashdown and his 61-year-old wife Cheryl would regularly cover between 250 and 300 miles each week on their bikes before the accident.
The pair had tackled numerous challenges, including a demanding coast-to-coast ride from Morecambe in Lancashire to Bridlington in East Yorkshire, the epic Land’s End to John O’Groats, and Scotland’s scenic North Coast 500.
However, on 19 February 2023, a sudden and unforeseen accident almost cos everything.
While staying at a lodge in Yorkshire with friends to celebrate his 34-year-old son Joe’s impending wedding, Mr Ashdown got up in the night to use the bathroom.
The next thing he remembered was rousing from unconsciousness on the bathroom floor, his body unresponsive.
“I don’t really remember the accident, if I’m honest,” Mr Ashdown said.
“I couldn’t move anything. I was completely paralysed, which was, without a doubt, the scariest moment of my life.”
After managing to raise the alarm and get someone to call an ambulance, he was rushed to Hull Royal Infirmary.
Scans confirmed a spinal injury of the C3, C4 and C5 vertebrae – which are responsible for supporting the head and neck, and controlling movement and sensation in the upper body – and he was told there was a “good chance” he would be paralysed permanently from the neck down.
“I remember thinking: ‘Oh, we’ll see. We’ll see’,” he recalled.
“My wife was in the background, crying her eyes out. She was really upset, of course.”
Mr Ashdown was admitted to Hull Royal Infirmary, where he stayed for around two months, until mid-April 2023.
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Nick Ashdown on holiday with his family
“I had to lie on my back for, I think it was, three or four weeks. I was not allowed to sit up at all. Then I was allowed to sit up to 30 degrees,” he said.
“I mean, obviously I understood that they were worried about what had happened to the spine. I didn’t break anything, I hadn’t broken any bones at all, but obviously there was some nerve damage, which was the spinal injury. So they were, I suppose, looking back, rightly cautious.”
One day towards the end of Mr Ashdown’s stay in Hull, his wife walked up to his bed.
“I said: ‘Hey, look at this’.
“I could raise my hand a little bit, and I could move one finger. That’s all I could do. And my wife started crying.”
While Mr Ashdown was offered an elective operation on his spine, he declined the surgery as he felt the risks did not outweigh the potential reward.
Instead, he started the long road of physiotherapy.
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Mr Ashdown had rehab at Pinderfields Hospital’s specialist spinal injury unit
He was transferred to Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield, home to the Yorkshire Regional Spinal Injuries Centre, one of 12 specialist spinal injury centres in the UK.
“They were amazing, absolutely amazing,” he said.
“The physiotherapy there was incredible.”
Mr Ashdown had experienced extreme muscle wastage in the months he’d been bedbound, losing nearly 20 kilograms. Before his accident, he’d weighed around 82kg, but when he arrived at Pinderfields his weight had dropped to 64kg.
“One of my first sessions of physio, the nursing staff got me out into a wheelchair, and there was a mirror in the ward I was on. I remember looking in the mirror and thinking: ‘Who’s that?’” he said.
“I did not recognise myself at all. My legs looked like sticks of wood rather than muscly legs. I’d lost muscle unbelievably.”
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Mr Ashdown had lost about 20kg after the accident
Mr Ashdown’s physiotherapy began with one hour a day.
“I remember thinking: ‘Blimey, it’s not very much’, but after the time I’d had where I was inactive, it was enough,” he said.
“I was absolutely shattered after the first few weeks. Absolutely shattered.”
Mr Ashdown remained at Pinderfields until October 2023, receiving treatment from its spinal injury specialists. By the time he was discharged he could “just” walk – “not brilliantly, but not too bad”.
While Mr Ashdown has been having physiotherapy for two hours per week since returning home, and hits the gym three times a week, one thing still evaded him: getting back on his bike.
In March 2025, Mr Ashdown discovered Jorvik Tricycles – an adult tricycle manufacturer based in York – and riding on three wheels proved more accessible than trying to balance on two.
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Mr Ashdown and his wife Cheryl would cover hundreds of miles per week on their bikes
His electric tricycle enabled him to get back in the saddle, with its motor assistance helping to take some of the strain out of cycling and the three-wheeled bike necessitating less core strength than a traditional two-wheeler.
The longest ride he and Cheryl have done so far is 25 miles, but Mr Ashdown said “the independence is great”, adding that the pedalling is helping his hips to rebuild strength and stability, too.
“The goal last year was that I wanted to be able to get down on to the floor so I could play with my grandchildren. So I did that, which was amazing, absolutely amazing.”
As for riding his bicycle, “it’s on the horizon”.
“We haven’t yet attempted it, but definitely, without a doubt, I’m going to try it.”
