Steve: “The online course felt like a reset – it was honestly like a lightbulb switching on”
“If you listen to the noise of the past, it’s going to deafen your future”.
It’s a phrase Steve now lives by, after years of rebuilding his life following a devastating accident that ended both his role as an on-call firefighter with Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service, and his career as a lorry driver.
The accident happened when Steve was 25 and riding his motorbike to the station.
“A van did a U-turn in front of me and I was in their blind spot,” he says. “I had no time to react.”
The crash left him with multiple serious injuries, including fractures to his femur, tibia and fibula, as well as extensive damage to his knee, ankle, hip and shoulder.
“They said pretty much straight away that I’d never be fit enough to be a firefighter again and it was unlikely I’d walk without crutches,” Steve adds.
Steve spent nine months in a wheelchair and three years on crutches, and was forced to retire from both careers.
“I can now walk again, run to a fashion and cycle every day, but it’s taken years to get here,” he says. “If I’m honest, I’ve never mentally got over losing my career in the fire service.”
During his recovery, Steve received support from us, including rehabilitation stays at Marine Court, our centre in Littlehampton.
“The fire service was brilliant throughout, so supportive of myself and my wife at the time,” he says. “Fire Fighters Charity also invited me to the centre twice. It was great to be around other firefighters and their families, and it really boosted my recovery and outlook.”
While the physical injuries healed, coming to terms with a completely different life took longer: “I went from playing sport and responding to shouts as a firefighter to not being able to walk for over nine months. Coming to terms with losing both careers was really difficult,” Steve says.
“I’d occasionally have down days, as you do. It could feel like everything was out of my control at times, but all you can do is pick up the pieces and carry on.”
After becoming a stay-at-home dad, Steve slowly began looking at changing his lifestyle, particularly as his kids grew up.
“When the kids didn’t need me around as much, I started going to the gym,” he says. “One day an instructor said, ‘you’d make a brilliant gym instructor’. I laughed at first, but I went back to college at 47 and qualified. I’ve been doing it ever since.”
While he’s feeling better than he has in years, Steve says that the difficult days can still come around:
“I’ve got so much to be grateful for, including three amazing grandchildren, but every now and again I’d get those down days where I’d think about what could have been,” he adds.
It was during one of those times that he discovered our online wellbeing courses, and chose to try our HOPE (Help Overcome Problems Effectively) Programme.
“It really appealed to me because I could do it from home, in my own time. It almost felt like it reset my brain. Instead of thinking about the ‘what ifs’, I now focus on everything I’ve already achieved. It honestly was like a lightbulb switching on,” he says.
The flexibility of the programme made it easy to fit around everyday life, and he says the tools he learned continue to help him today.
“It really appealed to me because I could do it from home, in my own time.”
Steve
“It completely fit into my schedule, and I could just pick it back up when I had time,” he says.
“I still get difficult days, but now I do something simple and think of one thing I’m grateful for. I have so much to be grateful for, it’s an easy exercise. I am by no means cured, but I am more optimistic and stable than I have been for years.”
We also offer a range of online courses on our Wellbeing Hub, as well as a mental health self-assessment tool, which you can find here:
Now, alongside his career in fitness and time spent with his three grandchildren, Steve is preparing to give back through fundraising.
“I’ve done four Ironman events and lots of fundraising challenges over the years,” he says. “In September I’ll be taking on the Great North Run in full fire kit and breathing apparatus. It’ll be a challenge, to say the least.”
“Fire Fighters Charity helped me 36 years after I retired… I want others to know it’s there for them too.”
You can donate to Steve’s fundraiser here:
If you feel you’d benefit from our health and wellbeing support, you can call our Support Line on 0800 389 8820, make an enquiry online or click below: