A rugby player was left paralysed below the chest after he missed a vital warning message before jumping into a swimming pool.
The then 22-year-old Welshman was a trainee quantity surveyor and a keen rugby player for his local team Pontyclun, RFC. But Jonathan Hobbs’ life changed forever during one of his first holidays with a group of friends to Magaluf, on the Spanish island of Majorca.
“I woke up and went straight to the pool,” he said. “I hadn’t gone to the induction where they told us not to dive in the shallow end of the pool.” He dived in, but needed to be pulled to safety by his friends after he suffered a huge injury.
“I was still awake, floating face down in the pool. I didn’t know what had happened at first, and obviously, a state of panic kicked in,” he said. “Luckily enough, my friends were around the pool and two of them jumped in and got me. I was pulled to the side and I remember the paramedics coming but after that, it’s a bit of a blur.”
Hobbs broke his neck and sustained spinal injuries and spent the following 17 days in a Spanish hospital before being transported back to the UK. He went on to spend nine months in a rehabilitation centre at Stoke Madeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire where he learned the severity of his injuries, WalesOnline reported.
“Life was bleak,” Jon said. “I was paralysed from the neck down. I couldn’t speak as I had a tracheostomy, and every part of me was completely paralysed. After three months at Stoke Mandeville, I started to improve slightly – I got off the tracheostomy and was able to breathe by myself, I also started getting slight twitches in my shoulders and arms. We started working on the muscles that were twitching to improve them.”
Hobbs, now 39, later learned he sustained a complete injury, meaning he was paralysed from the chest down. Hobbs confessed to going through some “dark days” during his time at the rehabilitation centre but that he was pushed on thanks to the continuing support he received from staff as well as family and friends who visited.
He said: “At first, it seemed that life was going to be living back home with my parents. I wasn’t going to be able to live independently. But Stoke Mandeville was amazing – they opened my eyes to everything. Even though I had sustained spinal injury, they showed me that it was possible for me to live independently with carers. It completely changed my mindset.
“It was tough at the start, but I found that I was very fortunate as well. Being a part of a rugby club meant that I had a network of friends. Between my family and friends, I would have someone always visiting me. They were my driving force. Even though I had visitors all the time, I was also left to deal with myself. I had no choice but to get on with it. I think it did help going there, focusing on my rehabilitation, my physio, my occupational therapy and it kept me busy.
“Sometimes, I would have good days, I’d have some great days but then I would also have my bad days. During those bad days, I had to dig into those dark places and test myself. At one point, I had a meeting with a fertility clinic while I was there. I was only young, and I wasn’t thinking about children at the time, but then they said that there was a very high chance that I wasn’t able to have children when I was older.”
Following nine months at the rehabilitation centre,Hobbs returned to Wales where he stayed at a respite centre in Cowbridge for a year before being moved into his own home in 2009, with carers there to assist him. “That was a massive milestone,” he added.
“I think you get institutionalised a bit, in the fact you become comfortable in your setting where there’s always someone around in a respite centre or hospital. It was a bit scary, but then that feeling fades out, it’s a completely different world living on your own and the freedom that comes with it.”
Hobbs has limited arm function and no wrist or hand movement. He is also a dad-of-four – Ellis, 17, Alfie 12, Jenson,eight, and Eira, four. Two of his sons have followed in their father’s footsteps and are rugby players for Pontyclun RFC.
He works as an estimator for a building contractor and lives with his partner Cara, who he is due to marry in July this year. “I met Cara at the respite centre,” he said. “We became friends and then we became best friends for 12 years. I had a team of carers and Cara was one of them. One of my sons from a previous relationship was very young at the time and I needed help looking after him. Cara was there and helped me a lot.”
“We went from being in a friendship to a relationship. Not often can you find a relationship formed from a friendship like this, but she has become a massive part of my life and now we are getting married in July.”
Ahead of his wedding, Jon prepared for another major milestone. On Saturday, April 6, he ascended Pen-y-Fan in Bannau Brycheiniog as part of a charity fundraiser. Jon’s engineer brother Jaime created a specially adapted wheelchair for the epic challenge.
Some 30 members of his friends and family were set to assist him get up and down the peak, including his good friend Lloyd Collier. “I met Lloyd after the accident while I was at the respite centre,” Jon explained. “He must’ve been around 15 or 16 doing some work experience over there. His late uncle also had a spinal injury.
“He used to come in and talk to me, I would ask him what he wanted to be when he was older and he would say that he wanted to be a doctor. I thought he was just a young boy with big dreams at the time, but fair play to Lloyd, he went on to university and became a doctor.”
Speaking ahead of the attempt to raise money for the Spinal Research Charity, Hobbs admitted he hoped it was a good way to get out of his comfort zone. “I’m under no illusion how tough this challenge is going to be for me and everyone else,” he said. “I’m praying the weather will be kind as because of my injury I really struggle with the cold but there is a real ‘can-do’ spirit in the group and we will do it.”
He added: “When I get to the top of Pen-y-Fan, I’ll probably not be the happiest man but I’ll try my best to smile for the camera. Going up Pen-y-Fan is always something that I wanted to do, it is regarded as a bit of a crime if you live in south Wales and you have never climbed up Pen-y-Fan, so I’ve got to. It will be amazing just to do it.”
He added: “Challenges like this will come and go, but friendship lasts for a lifetime. A lot has changed, and I’ve changed a lot, but the biggest thing for me is friendship. I’ve been very fortunate to have a community backing me every step of the way.”
The GoFundMe fundraiser raised £7,780 as of Monday, April 8, smashing its £2,900 target.
Leave a Reply