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Sammi Kinghorn: My Dad β€˜crushed’ me with his forklift truck

Sammi Kinghorn recalls the horrific accident she endured aged 14 – and how it led her on a journey to becoming a double world champion.

Back in December 2010, she suffered a broken back in a freak incident involving her dad’s forklift truck at her family’s farm in Berwickshire. It resulted in her being paralysed from the waist down.

She remembers thinking to herself at the time: β€œI’m going to die and my dad’s going to think that he’s killed me”.

Kinghorn initially thought she’d β€œbe stuck in bed forever”, but seeing a wheelchair for the first time β€œbrought a smile to my face”.

She says: β€œThe day I tried wheelchair racing was the best day of my life”.

That accident in 2010 was indeed life-changing – Kinghorn went on to become a T53 wheelchair racer, and won the 100m and 200m for Britain at the World Para-athletics Championships in London in the summer.

This clip is originally from the Friday Sports Panel on Friday 1st September.

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Duration:

4 minutes

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