Man left paralysed after fateful decision to go for a pint at local pub
A man had a life-changing accident when he decided to cross a road to go for a pint at a pub he had been to many times before.
Stuart Gillan was left paralysed when he stepped off the double height kerb on his walk to the Brauhaus pub outside Glasgow Central Station, Scotland and felt himself flying through the air.
The 59-year-old sound engineer barely had time to process what was happening to him when he crashed down onto the tarmac, and ended up lying in a busy road dropping in and out of consciousness. Stuart decided to head for a drink in a pub he had frequented many times on Bothwell Street. The trip, which took place on 10 September, 2019 while he was on his way back from a business trip in Germany, was to become a life-changing decision.
After being rushed to hospital it was found Stuart was paralysed and was unable to move anything from the neck down. Now he has launched a fundraiser in the hopes of walking again and being able to hug his wife. Speaking to Glasgow Live about the traumatic event, he said: "I had been on a business trip to the Fohhn Audio, Sound Lab in Nürtingen and was returning home. I was so excited to be going home to tell my wife Gillian how well the trip had gone and to a nice dinner and cracking a bottle of wine to celebrate a good business trip.
"Directly outside the Brauhaus, the pavement has a ‘double-height’ kerb: a single kerb at the end of the pavement followed by a secondary kerb sticking out a similar distance and dropping a similar height. I have crossed the road hundreds of times but on this day something went wrong and I took a step off the pavement and found myself falling."
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Stuart remembers the shock as his brain processed he was falling before hitting the floor face-first - damaging his nose and jaw (Glasgow Live)Stuart remembers the shock as his brain processed he was falling before hitting the floor face-first - damaging his nose and jaw. As he came back to his senses he felt a 'wave sensation' which started at his toes before reaching his neck - leaving him unable to move.
He continued: "The first thing that went through my mind, apart from realising I could no longer move, was that I was lying in the middle of a very busy street. I kept wondering when the car, bus or truck would come along and drive over the top of me - it's something I still dream about."
Stuart was rushed to Glasgow Royal Infirmary as medics pumped him full of morphine to deal with the pain. Doctors found he had bruising to the spine and transferred him three days later to the Queen Elizabeth Spinal Injuries unit.
Following investigations, it was found that bone nodules on the inside of the spinal column caused by an existing condition, called cervical spondylosis, had pushed into his spinal cord causing nerve damage. Stuart was taken for surgery to have four titanium plates inserted to allow his spinal cord to expand.
He continued: "Since the operation, I have regained a lot of movement in my left side and some but my right side is more affected. This is unfortunate because I am right handed.
"However I have to live with what I have and do my best to improve what I can. The final medical definition of my injury is "C5 spinal compression with incomplete tetraplegia. In some ways being ‘incomplete’ is a good thing because it means that there is a minuscule chance I could waken up one day and climb out of bed as if nothing happened.
"At the same time I could wake up tomorrow and all of my improvements may well have disappeared. As long as I work as hard as I can and as long as I have the correct equipment and the best possible specialists to help me, I can maximise my chances of improvement."
In total, Stuart spent a total of nine months in the hospital following intensive rehabilitation with the support of wife Gillian. After being released from hospital, the couple were forced to move to more suitable housing putting even more pressure on the family.
Stuart still thinks about the fall which he has described as being a 'Sliding Doors' moment. He says that he never would have ended up falling off the kerb if he had taken the route home he usually would - waiting in a bar before getting the train from Edinburgh city centre straight to Cambuslang.
It was only a spur-of-the-moment decision that made him decide to get a bus from the airport to Glasgow. He continued: "If I had just got on the tram and gone back into Edinburgh city centre like I always did, then go into my regular bar for a beer to wait for my train and get off at Cambuslang, maybe none of this would have happened.
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"I try not to dwell on these things because there are so many things that are more important, such as improving my rehabilitation, running and expanding my business and building a new life with my wife."
Stuart says his rehabilitation has been going better than anyone would have expected after being told he would never walk or regain much of the movement he already has. He had been close to taking his first step and standing out of his wheelchair unaided, however, an injury while exercising set him back in May last year.
But he is remaining upbeat with his recovery and hopes to one day regain the ability to walk and hug his wife. As part of his recovery, he has launched a fundraiser to buy a standing wheelchair which costs around £30,000.
Speaking about the life-changing device, he said: "It has a range of benefits including blood flow, stopping pressure sores and it will help me strengthen the muscles I need so I can hopefully walk again one day.
"But I think the most important one for me will be the ability to hug my wife again. When I was going to test them out the salesman burst into tears after I hugged my wife for the first time in three years - it was an emotional experience for all of us."
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