A YOUNG mountain biker left paralysed after a horror accident in the French Alps has spoken of his determination to fight back.

Jack Sims’ life changed in an instant when he suffered severe injuries after plunging 65ft from a cliff on his mountain bike.

But ten months later the 24-year-old has now returned home and has bravely told how he will battle back and refuse to be beaten by his injuries.

He said: “I remember a nurse saying to me ‘your life is either going to get much worse or much better and it’s your choice, you are either going to let it beat you or beat it and nobody is going to do that for you. It’s totally down to you.'

"That made sense. I realised I’ve got what I’ve got and I wanted to beat it. I am still just Jack.”

Speaking about what he remembers of his accident in July last year, he said: “I ran out of talent and I ran out of luck. I guess in the Alps the price you pay for making a bad decision is much greater than it is in the woods in England. It was a big crash and was very unlucky how I landed.

“I just remember tumbling and tumbling. My helmet was all smashed up. I definitely owe my life to my helmet.”

He had been descending a 7,500ft mountain in Les Deux Alpes when he misjudged a jump, flew over his handlebars and dropped off a nearby ledge. He fell 15ft and landed on his back, leaving him with a complete spinal cord injury from the top of his back. He tumbled a further 50ft down a rock face, breaking ribs and puncturing a lung.

Jack was winced from the mountain and flown 45 miles to hospital in Grenoble where he underwent emergency surgery.

He spent two weeks in hospital before being driven by ambulance to a specialist spinal unit at Salisbury Hospital where he realised the extent of his injuries.

“I don’t think they like to let on too much. I think they feed it to you slowly because it is huge to take in.

“My consultant is very straight to the point though and the first words she said to me were: ‘You are never going to walk again.’ But I appreciated that, it is what it is.

“When it really hit home was after being in bed for 11 weeks and they started getting me up. I realised then ‘this is pretty serious.’ I think it took a week to be able to get me upright.

“It took very small steps over months just to get in a wheelchair. That’s when you start to think that it’s hard to see the end goal when you can barely sit upright in a chair.

“I have always wanted to run before I can walk and so I did find it frustrating but you have to accept what would have been a tiny step before is massive.”

However Jack has remained determined and has even turned to sport to work to rebuild his strength.

Jack, from Marnhull, joined the Dorset Destroyers wheelchair rugby team and even scooped second place when he competed in the Paraplegic Division Shooting Competition of the WheelPower 2017 Inter Spinal Unit Games.

The former Blandford School pupil said: “Without a doubt sport has got me through it.

“With Dorset Destroyers rugby club I have joined, everyone has got their own issue and it is like you’ve not got a disability. Once you are in a chair, everyone is on a level playing field. It definitely helps with your head.”

And Jack is waiting on the delivery of a hand bike funded by the Matt Hampson Foundation.

“If I could ride my bike still, I’d be happy with everything else. I do miss it. There are new things though.

“You can’t let it stop you. I would rather try it, fall out and fail than not try at all. Getting out and off the beaten track again will be just amazing. On the bike you can get to some of the best places, it’s so quiet and the views you get when you cycle to the top of a hill is just awesome. It’s that freedom.

“I’ve just started skiing lessons too.”

Jack, whose friends, family and strangers raised thousands of pounds for his rehabilitation, said he feels lucky to be alive.

“It could have been so much worse. It didn’t kill me but it did smash me up pretty bad.

“It is your own life though and you are the master of your own destiny. Bad things may happen but it is your choice to make them better. It takes a lot of grit sometimes, you have to push for it, but there are always going to be better days."