A Glasgow man who woke up to find his legs on fire after falling onto a electrified train tracks has turned his life around thanks to an amputee charity. Paul Johnson was forced to have both limbs cut off above the knee after the freak accident near his home in Pollokshields.
The 29-year-old was coming home from a night out in November 2013 when he decided to take a shortcut across the railway line but slipped and fell. His bag, containing his mobile phone, landed away from his body meaning he had to crawl to reach it while the flames took hold.
Recalling the terrifying event, Paul said: “That night I was coming home at 4am and decided to take a shortcut across the overhead beams of the railway line. I was electrocuted by the overhead wires and that caused me to fall onto the tracks and black out.
“For a couple of hours I was knocked out cold. When I woke up my legs were on fire and I was in terrible pain. My bag was in the middle of the track with my phone inside, so I had to roll over to get it. I pulled myself to safety and called an ambulance.
“Twenty minutes later they arrived and saved my life.” The amputee spent a month in intensive care before being transferred to a burns ward and, although he began a slow physical recovery, the psychological effects were brutal.
He added: “I focused on the physical side, but didn’t deal with the emotional side at all. The first time I had to transfer myself from the bed to the wheelchair, it took me five minutes to cross a tiny gap and that’s when I realised: ‘This is what my life’s going to be like’.
“It hit me like a truck. I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror, so I couldn’t imagine what it was like for other people to look at me.” Paul, who admits living a chaotic lifestyle before the accident, was put in touch with the Finding Your Feet charity, which was founded by fellow amputee Cor Hutton, 52.
With the help of a £38,000 grant from the Health Lottery Scotland, Paul was supported through his recovery and now works for the charity. He explained: “Before the accident, most of my time was spent out with friends or sleeping.
“I had pretty bad mental health from 16 and I didn’t do very well at school and ended up working in a friend’s parents’ restaurant and going out drinking a lot.
“It was an ‘work-drink-sleep-repeat’ thing, but I knew something was coming, it was like a ticking time bomb. After it happened, I isolated myself, but Cor knew that getting out of the house would be better for me. It was only at that point that I started to feel comfortable with my disability.
“Before that, I’d only been with my family or in a hospital setting. I hated the idea of going out and people looking at me. But through Finding Your Feet, I got my confidence back and now if someone stares at me I’ll give them a smile and a nod.
“Getting more involved with clubs and going out and seeing other amputees really helped me grow my confidence and become the person that I am today.”
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