My name is Jonathan. In January 2007, I went to Canada on my gap year to train as a ski instructor. I was absolutely in my element and having the time of my life. However, one day I woke up in the hospital, surrounded by people who stood around me. They broke the news that I had contracted meningitis.
Before my illness I was extremely active, I barely stopped to sit down. Activities that I took part in included skiing (slalom racing), running on road and track, cycling everywhere, rock climbing, cooking, playing football, badminton, throwing a diábolo in the air as high as I possibly could before catching it, with my arms outstretched in the sky above me. I even enjoyed racing go-karts, driving my dad's Dellow in car trials and auto tests. I was house captain at my local primary school and the ski instructor captain for the ski team at my secondary school, Marling Grammar.
In February 2007, I was 18 and flew to Canada to train as a ski instructor on snow. I had just got my A-level results, meaning that I had an offer at my first choice, Swansea University, to study Marine Biology.
I’d been teaching as a ski instructor on my gap year at Gloucester dry slopes whilst also working as a kitchen assistant at the Woolpack, the local pub in Stroud, Gloucestershire, to raise money for the trip.
Going back to Canada, the course was incredible, and I loved every second of it. The snow school motto was ‘the best days of your life’, which definitely fitted. I have no regrets at all, the last thing I remember was finishing the day early and going back down from the slopes and feeling rubbish. I’d been sick several times and I just knew that something wasn't right.
The next day I woke up lying flat on my back in a hospital bed, staring at the ceiling, with nurses surrounding me. I was petrified. I then spent six months where I couldn’t speak at all, at first all I could do was blink, once for yes and twice for no.
I was flown in an air ambulance from Calgary to Bristol. Following this, I was transported by ambulance to Gloucester Royal Hospital where I stayed in intensive care for several months. Next, I was taken by another ambulance to Salisbury Spinal Unit for rehabilitation, and it was here that I finally got my voice back again.
Following my illness, I am now paralysed from the neck down, wheelchair bound and fully reliant on a ventilator 24/7 to breathe for me. I graduated from Plymouth University with a first-class honours degree to study media arts in 2014.
I have been on several holidays in my chair, including a trip to the titanic studio in Belfast to see the filming of the TV series Game of Thrones. I’ve also collaborated with Imperial College London. I was going to be a pilot at the 2015 Cybathlon (the Paralympics with robotics and new technologies) until I was prevented from taking part because I had a pacemaker.
I now play a sport called Boccia at a national level, I study Spanish at college, and sing and beatbox at open mic nights. I’ve also taken part in numerous 10k races in my chair (which I drive using a control in my mouth).
During lockdown, I drove my chair up and down hills in my local area to the equivalent altitude of going from sea level up to the summit of Mount Everest and back down again to raise funds for the NHS.
It’s not the disability that defines you, but who you are and the way you approach life that does. When life gets tough, pick yourself up, dust yourself down and go out fighting!
Never give up, stay strong, be confident, be courageous and keep fighting!