Three-time Olympic rowing champion Pete Reed has relived the moment he could “feel the life draining out of my legs” after a spinal stroke left him paralysed from the chest down.
Three days earlier, the 38-year-old had been tackling an assault course with the Royal Marines with whom he is ranked a lieutenant commander.
He was admitted to hospital at the start of September with chest pain and numb legs, which eventually subsided before what transpired was a second spinal stroke, which initially caused excruciating pain in his back and legs.
In his first interview since then, he told the BBC: “It was scary. I was lying down and I could feel the life draining out of my legs.
“I was wiggling my feet up and down and then slowly they came to a stop. I could slowly feel it coming up through the legs and up to my chest. Within about 45 minutes the pain had gone and I couldn’t move.”
Now, the only movement he has below the chest is to be able to wiggle a solitary big toe, and specialists have prepared him for the reality that he might never walk again.
While in hospital, Reed also suffered a rare form of meningitis and a series of bladder infections but has adopted a remarkably positive attitude in his bid to get walking or at least moving again.
“If the damage is done, I won’t be walking again,” he said “I can try all I like but it might not happen. That’s quite hard to take but I’ll take any movement I can get. It’s a balance of being positive and realistic so I’ll make sure I keep my emotions in check.”
Reed won the first of his Olympic gold medals at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 in the coxless four and defended that title four years later before switching to the eight at the Rio Games in 2016 where he clinched a third gold before retiring from the sport.
And he believes his past life as an athlete will help in the recovery process.
“There’s nothing more beneficial to me now than my athlete mindset, nothing,” he said. “Now the standard is walking again. Let’s say a gold medal is walking again, mountaineering, back to my old life and working for the Navy.
“If the aim is walking again rather than a gold medal, the target is even bigger than before and the motivation is even bigger than before, and I didn’t think I’d ever say that again. After London 2012, who thought that I’d have a bigger challenge and more motivation to achieve.”
Having been visited in hospital by former crew members, Reed has already started searching Paralympic possibilities although his lack of core strength has ruled out rowing. Instead, he has considered potentially throwing events in the future.
“At the moment, the Paralympics feel like fantasy land,” he said. “I’ve got three Olympic medals and I didn’t think I’d ever have those so why not? There are lots of things to do in life but imagine representing ParalympicsGB. That would be cool."
