On the 4th of July myself and 5 friends headed out to the Alps to race the mega Avalanche, a couple of days later one of my friends had a big crash whilst we were visiting les deux alpes.

Jack was airlifted to Grenoble hospital and rushed to surgery with a major trauma to his back, it turned out he had smashed his T5 and T6 almost to pieces and as a result the injury was life changing.

Jacks passion for bikes is massive he’s been in the cycle trade since he left school some of you may have met him either through work or out on the trails, he’s been riding pretty much since he could walk and recently started to rebuild the trails at the former uk bike park to get it up and going again.

Jacks condition is stable but sadly he has no feeling from just below his arms downwards, he was returned back to the UK on Thursday and is now going to spend the next 12-18 months in hospital undergoing intensive rehab/phisio to try to regain the use of his core. It’s very unlikely he will be able to walk in the future.

We are hoping to raise £5000 for Jack and we are very close now so it would be great if we could get any donations from other mountain bikers so hopefully we can see Jack on the trails again and get his life rebuilt, Jack is hoping to be able to get an ebike specially adapted similar to Martyn Ashton.

If anyone would be kind enough to make a donation to Jacks just giving page it would be greatly appreciated I’ve included a link below.

https://crowdfunding.justgiving.com/JackSims?utm_id=107&utm_term=6jwd2A6jg

I would like to thank everyone at Singletrack for allowing me to post on this on the forum it will mean a massive amount to Jack and his family.

Thanks

Dave.

Will donate.

Out of interest (having studied medical science), was he wearing any upper body protection – eg back protection?

Hope things look up for him, stay positive, they’ll be able to cure paralysis in the not too distant future.

OP. Tough times. Will donate.

I wil take the liberty here to share something Teamhurtmore has posted before. Please take care folks. (OP if you think this post is inappropriate in anyway I am happy for it to be deleted)

A relation of TMH’s had a bad fall whilst in the mountain biking in the Alps. After an extended period in a wheelchair and in significant pain he made the decsion to go to Zurich.

We all love this sport, please respect the dangers and take care.

Jambalaya, no worries I think sometimes we all take life for granted and forget just how dangerous what we do is, that is an especially sad story.

Tom W, I don’t think he was wearing any at the time, I may be wrong mind everything happened very quickly. The way in which he fell I don’t think would have made any difference he landed pretty much sat down which I think is what did it but I’m certainly no expert.

Thanks for your support it will go a long way!

Dave.

Tough thing to happen to a mate, take care of yourself too @boxxer don’t underestimate the impact on yourself.

Not good 🙁 . Hope he makes the best recovery he can and gets the best treatment possible.

Tom_W1987 – Member
Out of interest (having studied medical science), was he wearing any upper body protection – eg back protection?

Even with back protection you can get a vertical compression which can fracture vertebrae or worse displace them and risk nerve damage.

Big thanks to all the positive replies and support so far – and to singletrack for allowing Dave’s post!

I’m back in the UK now, waiting for a bed on the spinal ward… Donations will help me back on my feet (or wheels it it has too be) it’ll help me build a new life, and get back on the trails!

Cheers, Jack (the broken guy)

It’s a way off down the line, but get in touch with the guys at Roughriderz. They are a charity who help people in your mates situation to rebuild and get back into mountain biking, especially gravity biking using 4 wheel DH rigs. Phil who runs things is a top bloke and a great advocate for 4 wheel gravity bikes.

@jack best of luck and keep in touch. A Chinese fortune cookie message I kept from years ago says “The truely worthwhile often seems impossible at first”.

Done!! Gutted for you all, stay strong Jack !! Martyn Ashton will be your inspiration ,as he said “down but not out”, brings it home just how close to the edge we are every time we head out on the bikes!! Hoping for a positive future

Huge sympathies for you Jack. I’ve just been in les deux alpes but hadn’t heard about your accident. Best of luck with your treatment. You have support from all of us mate.

Even with back protection you can get a vertical compression which can fracture vertebrae or worse displace them and risk nerve damage.

Yup.

You know, going down the neuroscience route might motivate me a little more as I’d quite like to feel as though I’m giving back to our own community in a little way.

I’m going to do a little bit of research now to see what I could do about moving into spinal research.

Poor guy. All the best Jack.

Humbled. Donated with the very best wishes to you Jack for the future.

Get in touch with Steve info@cantquitcartel.com
He’s been through this himself (2 years this week since his accident) and he’ll be more than happy to have a chat with Jack and help.

Donated – best wishes for a full a recovery as possible.

Done.
Best of luck with the recovery.

Like ed said above if you need any advice/help gimmie a shout mate
https://cantquitcartel.com/blogs/cant-quit-riding/129823175-can-t-quit-mojo-nicolai-geometron-electron

Donated, best of luck dude.

Humbled by your positivity Jack.

A mate of mine had major spinal surgery on New Years Eve and was told he’d never walk again due to catastrophic nerve damage. He was wheelchair bound.

Yesterday he hobbled into my office with the aid of a walking stick demanding a brew and biscuits.

Good Luck with the recovery.

🙁 hope it all goes as well as possible.

If you don’t mind me asking, what were the circumstances? Fall from height on doing a jump?

Good luck with the recovery – donated.

Thanks everyone for your kind words and also donations, just been to visit Jack in hospital and he’s still extremely positive about everything and just looking at it as a new adventure.

Dvowles82 He overshot a step down and landed on a berm which threw him back up slightly and down the mountain, it was pretty steep (double black trail) it was a fair old way to the floor by that point.

Thanks for the update

Donated, down but not out! 😉

Chucked in a few quid, stay positive mate.

Look forward to seeing pics of you out and about.

Donated – best wishes with the rehab

Just seen this post,donated.Good luck with the rehab!
I must admit getting a spinal injury is my biggest worry when it gets technical out on the trail.I ended up with whiplash last year after landing on my head twice in a hour at Les Arcs.When I asked one of the guides about this, he reckoned going OTB was inevitable due to the terrain being so steep.
My question is,how do we protect ourselves in these situations?
A spine protector won’t save you if you land on your head or the base of your spine so what does?

Donated and good luck Jack, your attitude is brilliant. I wish you all the best.

Good luck Jack.
Sending healing vibes.

Bunnyhop x

@Jack. Sounds like you were the ‘bike rider guy’ who met my friend’s son Tom in Grenoble hospital spinal unit the same week. Doctors saved his life and he is on a similar long long road to recovery. Looks like youve got some incredible friends around you to support you, Good luck mate.
D

Hey Jack. How are you doing now?
Hope you are managing ok.
Be good to hear how things are with you.

Ill forward a link onto Jack to get him to update everyone.

I hadn’t realised who this was until I popped into Off Camber a little while ago and saw the article at the till. Best wishes to Jack for a continuing recovery and great attitude, and to his family who have probably been through a fair bit too.