Stuart Jones on the road again, pictures

TWO months after being told he wouldn’t walk again, Greta cyclist Stuart Jones is back riding a bike and has set himself the goal of walking his fiancee down the aisle.

Sandy Kryzius has  been by Mr Jones’s side throughout his remarkable recovery. She said he was inspired   by  a determination to prove the specialists wrong and to repay the  support of the region’s cycling community.

Mr Jones, 44, had that opportunity on Saturday when he used his first weekend release from the Ryde rehabilitation unit to visit his beloved Kooragang Island Cycling Club.

The IT specialist  was riding to work at Mayfield West about 7.15am on January 16 when he clipped a parked car on the New England Highway at Beresfield.

The vehicle had been pulled over by police the night before. The impact sent Mr Jones sprawling into the path of a Toyota LandCruiser,   knocking him unconscious for more than five minutes.

He suffered a fractured skull, two fractured vertebrae in his spine and torn tendons in his hand.

Once in hospital, doctors told Ms Kryzius to prepare for the worst. They feared a depression of the skull, which was crushing the main artery that feeds blood to the brain, would claim her fiance’s life.

Surviving that injury, doctors then discovered Mr Jones had no movement down most  of the right side of his body, even after surgery to repair his spine.

He was placed in an induced coma in John Hunter Hospital’s intensive care unit and Ms Kryzius was told  Mr Jones would spend the rest of his life confined to a wheelchair.

He was transferred to  Royal North Shore Hospital’s spinal unit for rehab – which is where Mr Jones’ determination to not only walk but cycle again set him on a different road to recovery than the one first predicted by the experts.

 ‘‘I am lucky that I’ve had such great support, I wouldn’t be where I am without it,’’ Mr Jones told the Newcastle Herald yesterday.

‘‘Sandy massaged my legs every day and one night after she’d done it, two of my toes moved for the first time.

‘‘It was after that I swore I would walk again.’’

Mr Jones refused medication so he could be more alert for his rehab exercises.

‘‘It was recommended he should rest for three months and expect to be in hospital for six to 12 months, but Stuart didn’t want to take that,’’ Ms Kryzius said.

‘‘The quicker the body learns to reconnect the nervous system the quicker it recovers, so he kept pushing himself, whatever bit of exercise he could do.’’

Mr Jones used a special  stationary bike to  gain movement back into his knees. Within a few weeks he was  using a standing frame, then a walking frame and then a walking stick.

He can now walk with a knee brace.

‘‘I got a wheelchair in rehab but I refuse to use it, the only way to walk again is to practise, practise, practise,’’ Mr Jones said.

Next came the cycling. Mr Jones started with a  recumbent trike, doing 400-metre circuits around a lake outside the rehab centre. Before long he  was riding more than 20 kilometres on cycleways around Homebush.

‘‘The specialists and physiotherapist can’t believe his progress and his attitude, but Stuart is used to riding nearly 100kilometres a day so ...  he wants to do more,’’ Ms Kryzius said.

Mr Jones eventually convinced staff to allow him back on to  a two-wheel bike, and after a few early wobbles he rode it out of the gym, down a corridor and out the back door of the facility, with  Ms Kryzius and others acting as human training wheels.

‘‘We were jogging alongside him down the corridor and ...  he was saying, ‘Just  let me go’,’’ Ms Kryzius said. ‘‘He got to the back door and nothing was stopping him.’’