By Ralph Barnett

A YOUNG Carnoustie man, who came within minutes of death almost exactly a year ago when he severed his spinal cord in a freak accident, yesterday spoke publicly for the first time about the impact of the incident on his life.

Kevin Christie (32) also spoke of his gratitude to the medical staff, family, friends and complete strangers who had rallied to his support and of his hopes for the future.

Mr Christie remembers nothing of the events of June 5 last year when, while attending a barbecue in his home town, he decided to take a dive into a children’s paddling pool.

What he now wryly describes as “my little paddling pool adventure” left him with a C3 fracture—a break to the third vertebrae in his neck—and it was only thanks to the quick-thinking actions of some friends at the social gathering who administered emergency first aid that he is still here to tell the tale.

Mr Christie, who is now being cared for at the Seven Arches Nursing Home in Monifieth as he strives to regain as much of his health as possible, said, “It’s probably just as well I don’t remember anything about the accident because, from what other people have told me, it was a pretty scary day for everyone concerned and, apparently, wasn’t very nice.

“The first thing I can remember afterwards was coming to in the spinal injuries unit at the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow, where I had been transferred after spending some time being stabilised at Ninewells.”

Mr Christie’s brother Graeme said, “When the accident happened none of us knew what to expect or what the outcome would be.

“What we do know, however, is that if it hadn’t been for the proper first aid being administered straight away in the vital few minutes after Kevin broke his neck then he would almost certainly have died that night.”

Immediately after the accident, Kevin spent three weeks under heavy sedation in Ninewells Hospital before medical staff considered him stable enough to be transferred to the spinal injuries unit in Glasgow.

There he remained for a further eight months until doctors were satisfied he could be moved closer to home, with the transfer to the Seven Arches being carried out in April.

Although still very badly affected by the accident, Kevin remains remarkably upbeat about his life and his chances of making further progress.

He said, “The doctors said I would never even be able to breath on my own again but, at the moment, I can do without my ventilator for more than eight hours at a time and find that to be very encouraging.

“The only problem that gives me is that I have to remember that when I’m on the ventilator I have to speak on the out-breath and without it I have to speak on the in-breath, but that’s OK once I get used to it.”

Due to the location of the fracture, Kevin has also been left virtually blind and without the use of his arms and legs—although he has already regained the use of enough upper body function to shrug his shoulders—a gesture his family and friends have already become used to seeing when anything not to his liking is suggested.

He said, “There is nothing physically wrong with my eyes, it’s the connection between the optic nerve and the sight centre in my brain that’s been affected.

“The condition—called cortical blindness—is very rare in adults but is well documented in children who have suffered major blows to the head.

“I can, however, detect the difference between night and day and I can tell when someone puts the light on in my room or opens the curtains on a sunny day.

“Camera flashes also register and I am working with the care staff here on a computer screen programme which, I hope, will help me to make further improvements.

“As for my arms and legs, I have a little bit of feeling and can distinguish between hot and cold so, with a bit of luck, I can look forward to some progress in them as well.”

As someone who was very active and “outdoors-ish” before his accident, Kevin freely admits to feeling frustrated at the restriction his present condition places on him and know that any further progress will be painfully slow.

“I want to get better, or as better as I can be, but I also know that I have to be patient and realistic about the progress I can make and how long it will take.”

Brother Graeme said, “The fund-raising has just been unbelievable, from the small things that have raised a couple of hundred pounds to the bigger events which have brought in thousands.

“Kevin’s accident, and his courage and determination to live his life to the full no matter what, seems to have struck a chord with an awful lot of people and I know I speak for him, for his girl friend Yvette and his son Lewis and for our parents Angus and Gina when I express my gratitude to everyone who has helped.”

As he continues on his long, slow journey towards achieving the best possible quality of life, Kevin has taken inspiration from the writing of the late Christopher Reeve, the Superman actor who sustained a similar injury and became an international campaigner for those with spinal cord damage.

He said, “Reeve’s books are just brilliant and have helped me a great deal in coming to terms with what happened to me and what the future might hold.

“I have also become something of an expert on current work on spinal injuries and treatment which is going on all over the world—in Japan, China, Russia, the USA and France especially—and the possible benefits offered by stem cell research.

“There is hope for people like me to make progress but I have to accept that nothing is going to happen overnight and that I just have to be patient and keep on working at it.

“My main priority now is to get myself well enough for the start of the football season so I can get out into the fresh air and give Graeme some stick when he turns out for Carnoustie Panmure.”