10:25am Wednesday 18th June 2008
Matt Rhodes was in a coma for two months after a motorcycle accident. The young soldier was paralysed down one side and almost completely blind. But after completing the London Marathon last year, the inspirational fundraiser is now in training to cross the English Channel in a canoe.
Simon Barrett reports.
When a military police officer arrived at Hilary Harris's home, she immediately feared the worst.
Hilary went cold as she was told her son Matt had been seriously injured in Germany four days before his 21st birthday - and was not expected to survive.
On the journey to his hospital bedside, the car picked up an Army chaplain to read the soldier the last rites.
Against all the odds and with the support of his family, Matt defied his bleak prognosis and slowly pulled through.
Left unable to work due to his disability, Matt has since thrown himself into raising money for charitable organisations including St Dunstan's - the Ovingdean-based charity which supports blind and partially sighted servicemen and women.
Over the past six years he has raised thousands of pounds through activities such as paragliding, abseiling, skydiving, swimming from pier to pier off the Brighton coast and completing the London Marathon in ten and a half hours.
His next challenge is to cross the English Channel from Dover to Calais in a one-man canoe in May next year.
Matt, 33, lives in Telscombe Cliffs with wife Michelle and their four children.
He said: "After the accident my family thought I was going to die and were then warned I would be a cabbage but I proved all of that wrong.
"People see me as disabled but I don't see that myself. How I explain it to children is that I'm like a car. I've got a couple of flat tyres and smashed headlights but I'm the driver and I'm safe inside. When I realised I wouldn't be able to work again I wanted to raise money for those that have helped me and my family."
The former Tideway School pupil joined the Army at 18. He made top gunner and served in Germany and Canada before a peacekeeping summer tour of Bosnia in 1995. He had passed a course to become a physical training instructor days before tragedy struck.
Matt had been visiting a girlfriend on his motorbike while serving with the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment in Germany.
He was found 100m in front of the motorcycle some four hours after he set off to return home. He has no recollection of the accident, and all he could remember immediately afterwards was his Army number. Doctors feared the worst after finding two blood clots, and watched as Matt's heartbeat dropped to as low as four beats a minute.
He went from 12st to just 6st within weeks and it was months before he could be flown back to the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath.
The centre of his brain was badly damaged, leaving Matt completely paralysed down his right side. His optical nerve was also affected and his sight has since deteriorated so much he is now on the waiting list for a guide dog.
Matt now survives on military pensions and support from St Dunstan's.
Matt spent years in rehabilitation centres and later moved into a St Dunstan's flat in Ditchling Road, Brighton.
He met his wife Michelle in the nearby Roundhill pub.
He said: "It was a long road but I can honestly say I never once got depressed.
"My sight seems to be getting worse but I don't worry about losing it altogether.
You have to deal with whatever life throws at you. I did wonder if I would ever get the family life I wanted but then I met Michelle."
The pair married in Lewes in 2002 and later settled in Telscombe Cliffs with step-children Zoey, 16, and Charlie, 12.
They have since had two children of their own, Bethany, five, and 22-month-old Harry.
Matt began his fundraising exploits with a 12,000ft skydive in 2004 to raise money for Cancer Research after his father-in-law Frank Hawkins was struck down with throat cancer.
The next year he swam between the Palace Pier and West Pier in Brighton in 44 minutes - using only his left arm.
He has also abseiled down the 385ft Centre Point building in London, taken to a paraglider over the South Downs and even rekindled his love of horses to take part in dressage competitions.
His toughest challenge to date was completing the London Marathon alongside his mum Hilary last year.
He said: "It was very hard. I have a leg brace on so I can only walk very slowly.
The last four miles took over two hours, I was in so much pain but there was no way I was going to stop. I wanted to do it for everyone at St Dunstan's because they've been amazing."
Matt also has a poor memory through his brain injury.
He said: "I can remember numbers but not names, so if someone tells me their phone number I can remember that no problem, the only thing is that I can't remember whose it is.
"It also took me a good year and a half before I could remember my wife's name, and I still get all four of my kids, and even the dogs, mixed up."
Through his fundraising efforts, Matt has met several celebrities and been invited to Buckingham Palace six times.
Mum Hilary, who now lives in Spain, said: "He really is an inspiration to us all. We walked the London Marathon course together and the people were just amazing, cheering him on all the way.
"I've never met anyone so positive. We are all so proud of him."
To train for his latest challenge, Matt is spending hours in the gym and swimming pool each day.
He will use a velcro glove to strap the paddle to his right arm for the gruelling 33-mile canoe journey. Matt, who hopes to raise £5,000, will donate half the money to St Dunstan's and the other half to go to Guide Dogs for the Blind.
Matt recently had his motto for life tattooed on his chest. It reads simply: "Don't worry about the past, look forward to the future, enjoy the present."
To sponsor Matt, visit justgiving.com/matthewrhodes for St Dunstan's, or justgiving.com/matthewrhodes1 for Guide Dogs.
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