American rugby player Robert Paylor, who was paralysed from his chest down in a match three years ago, has got out of his wheelchair by himself for the first time since the crippling accident that changed his life forever.Mr Paylor broke his neck during a championship game in 2017.
Since then the 20-year old UC Berkley student has fought a tough battle to regain his mobility.He recently posted a video to his Twitter account showing the moment that he finally managed to hoist himself out of his wheelchair, grab hold of a walker and take a few steps on his own for the first time in 1,220 days, a moment he described as “a massive milestone” in an interview with Real Press.“I felt a deep sense of gratitude that I was able to stand up again, but I am also hungry for more,” Mr Paylor said.“There is not a second of those 1,220 days that I have had an escape from paralysis.
It is something that I have to constantly deal with.
But I believe in my goal of walking again so strongly, and am willing to spend the rest of my life working to achieve this goal,” Mr Paylor said.Mr Paylor's life changed forever in a split second on 6th May 2017, when his team played Arkansas State in the varsity cup American collegiate rugby championship.
He was competing in a maul and got caught in a headlock by an opposing player.
With his chin pinned against his chest he came crashing to the ground when the maul collapsed.