Former rugby player on moment he was told he'll never walk again after diving head first into shallow pool

Ed Jackson was a professional rugby star in the peak of his powers when he suffered a horror injury that would change his life forever.

The Newport Gwent Dragons player had just signed a two-year contract with his team in 2017 and his career was seemingly on the up.

Recovering from his shoulder injury at the time, Ed spent the day at his family friend's house in Cardiff for a barbecue on 8 April, 2017.

The sportsman, then-28, was enjoying the heat while envisaging his summer wedding in Tuscany with his then-fiancée Lois the following year.

That's when Ed decided to take a dive into the water and accidentally landed head first into the shallow end of the pool. He was left completely paralysed from the shoulders down.

When he was taken to hospital, doctors performed emergency surgery on him and said he would never walk again.

Ed Jackson was paralysed from the shoulders down before surgery. (Millimetres 2 Mountains Foundation)

On that moment, Ed told LADbible: “And then when the doctor said, 'you know you're not going to walk again, but we're hoping you can get the use of your arms back so that you can be independent', it was that word 'independent' that really struck me.

"It made me realise that actually, this wasn't just about me, this was about anyone who's going to have to care for me for the rest of my life.

"And that gave me the extra motivation to put the effort and energy in, you know, moving that focus off myself to a bigger reason, which was my family, my mum, my wife.

"It turned out that was the extra energy or motivation I needed to eventually get my toe to flick."

The ex rugby player was at the peak of his powers before the spinal cord injury. (Millimetres 2 Mountains Foundation)

Ed's toe flicking was just the start of his recovery and, just a year later, he managed to overcome the odds and climb Snowdon. But that hasn't been without an incredible amount of physiotherapy work and struggle.

"My current condition is I am what you call in the trader walking quad, so incomplete quadriplegic, so all four of my limbs are affected by my spinal cord injury," he explained.

"My left side, my motor function is poor, so I can't lift my leg off the ground very far.

"My core is weak and my hand doesn't really work. I've got sort of pin grip in there, so I can still use it to tie my shoelaces and eat and stuff day to day. Things right side, physically, a lot better.

"You're told in hospital that you've got 24 months to sort of recover, and then it plateaus.

"I'm still seeing recovery to this day, nearly eight years later, I think it's obviously slower than it used to be.

"Some of the stuff that is kind of outside of my control, like temperature regulation, some of the sexual function, things like bladder and bowel, to certain extent, that's all autonomic neurology, so that can improve and some of those things have improved over time, but some of it won't."

Ed raises money for charity with his mountaineering expeditions. (Universal)

His journey has been told in new Universal documentary The Mountain Within Me by Polly Steele.

The film showcases his journey from the point he suffered the spinal cord injury to how he recovered just enough to climb Mera Peak in Nepal to raise funds for a spinal unit in 2020. On that mission, he almost froze to death if it wasn't for helicopters who came to the rescue him near the peak.

Though Ed now hopes to continue his charity work with Millimeters 2 Mountains, which he began in 2018.

"Obviously, I just want to continue growing the charity and being able to help more people. That's sort of where my main passion lies," he said.

"More immediately, I'm going out to the Paralympics in Paris to work with Channel Four presenting the athletics which I'm incredibly, incredibly excited about.

"And then there'll be some bigger mountains. I'm sure there will be, what exactly they are right now, I'm not sure we're eyeing up potentially doing I'm kind of planning something in the Himalayas next year to maybe do a first descent of something.

Doctors told him he could never walk again. (Universal)

"So climb a peak that has never been climbed before, and put a flag in the ground for sort of disabled adventure, but that's early stage plans at the moment. So who knows."

Ed also explained why he still sits in his wheelchair at his desk even though he can walk.

“Bloody comfy chair, and they cost like three grand, so like to feel wrong to throw it out, to be honest. But now it's more than that," he quipped.

"You know, it's really useful. From getting from the desks to the printer quickly, you don't even have to stand up.

"But also it acts as a reminder to me, just like, how lucky I am to be in the position I am, every time I stand up out of that wheelchair.

"I'm grateful, because it's too easy to just get used to where you are in life. You know it catches up, and we're constantly living in remorse about the things we don't have, and we completely forget about the stuff that we have already got."

The Mountain Within Me will be shown in UK cinemas from 23 August.