Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Today's Access All Areas report follows Newsnight producer Jonathan Bell as he finds out what part sport plays in the rehabilitation of seriously injured soldiers. In this part, Jonathan goes back 15 years to recount his personal journey of recovery.

Looking back to the dark early days in hospital all those years ago is still uncomfortable. And as much as I remember the good friends that I made, it was a time of dramatic re-adjustment to my new disabled self.

I had been an infantry soldier on a training exercise on Salisbury Plain, preparing for deployment to Bosnia. One phase of the training was a night navigation exercise with my Company. We were fit, tough soldiers running the thirty-odd kilometres in full kit with ammunition and weapons. Nothing could have prepared me for the life changing moment when a car ploughed in to my foot patrol, seriously injuring me and fifteen other soldiers.

I received a spinal cord injury which left me paraplegic. My legs had also been mangled by the impact of the car. Lying in the hospital ward with my new injured mates, the future seemed a bit grim, uncertain at least. I was no longer a tall, physically fit soldier - I was a wheelchair user.

As I contemplated my future, I remember very clearly the wheelchair basketball team arriving each week in the ward waiting to use the gym for training. They balanced precariously on their back wheels as they bantered with each other - and when they were catapulted out of their wheelchairs after colliding with another player -they slipped effortlessly back in. This seemed so cool in contrast to our clumsy efforts. They were fit, young men and women. It was while watching them that I realised life was going to be ok.

Making the news report this week, I realised that charting my transition from hospital to the 'outside world' was as revealing as much as nostalgic. I have come a long way since then.

While filming the report, I met a guy I'd played in the table-tennis finals at the Inter-Spinal-Unit Games all those years ago. He's still involved in competitive sport. We talked about the adjustments we had to make and how we both found something in sport that helped us through that challenging time.

A couple of days later, I chatted to some wounded soldiers at Headley Court rehabilitation centre in Surrey. For them, sport has been crucial. Soldiers, broadly speaking, are competitive and this mind-set helps for a speedy recovery to battle fitness. Those who won't make it back to frontline soldiering are assessed to see if they're suitable for, or indeed have an interest in, getting involved in a sporting discipline.

As much as I'd like to tell you I became a talented basketball player - that was never going to happen. The same lack of coordination that kept me out of the school football team hadn't changed. However, I did stay involved in recreational sport. I got fit again and developed a new sense of physical 'self' that I was happy with. Getting fit also made me feel better about myself and helped to rebuild my confidence. I've since learnt to mono-ski and have become an instructor.

As a full-time wheelchair user, I feel as athletic now as I ever did in the Army.

Watch Jonathan's online report.

For details of what Access All Areas has in store for the rest of the week, take a look at this Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Press release.