A rugby players’ charity has pledged financial assistance to Newport Gwent Dragons forward Ed Jackson, who is recovering from a spinal injury. The 28-year-old suffered the injury when he dived into a swimming pool.
Day 38 . Diet . I had lost over two and a half stone and all I had to do was lie down and do nothing for a month. Some of you may think, perfect, summers coming, but before you tuck yourself into bed for the run up to Ibiza you should probably know that none of it was fat. The rate at which muscle atrophies when not being used is quite astonishing. It took about ten years of grafting for me to build my average rig and only two weeks for it to disappear. Thankfully I now had the mobility and strength to start fighting back and have since managed to limit the losses and get my weight to level out. However at 95kg I was now the lightest I had been since I was fourteen and it had nothing to do with diet. . The truth is hospital food isn’t all bad. Don’t get me wrong, you get the odd shocker and there’s probably more nutrients in a flip flop, but I expected a lot worse. I wasn’t telling anyone though. The fact that hospital grub has a bad rep was working in my favour. A different delivery of food was landing in my room almost daily. Between the hospital food, deliveroo and care packages from the friends and family, i had more food than I could shake a stick at. Getting fat was the least of my worries at the moment and if it meant that I was getting the nutrients I needed and could carry on eating the food I love then so be it. . If I said that watching my body change so quickly didn’t bother me, I would by lying, of course it did. It’s not easy watching the person you know disappearing by the day, but dwell on this, let it effect you, and you are wasting time instead of concentrating on what’s important. Getting better is all that matters and that means movement and strength not what you look like in the mirror, sorting that out can wait. . P.s. thanks for the advice I have received from people regarding vitamins etc to help supplement my diet whilst in hospital. Here’s a list of what I’m currently taking and why, any more advice is welcome… – Multi vitamin – general health – Vitamin D – lack of natural light – Cherry active – bladder health – Powdered greens – general health – Collagen – bone density – Omega 3/6 – blood pressure – Electrolytes – ” “
A post shared by Ed Jackson (@edjackson8) on May 18, 2017 at 1:48pm PDT
Restart Rugby, the official charity of the Rugby Players’ Association (RPA), says it will “assist Ed with the significant cost of the intensive rehabilitation that will be required”.
Jackson is receiving treatment at the Royal United Hospital in Bath.
He had emergency surgery at Southmead Hospital in Bristol after the accident at a friend’s barbecue on 8 April.
The former Bath, Wasps, London Welsh and Doncaster Knights player has recovered some movement and is updating his friends and supporters on his progress on his Facebook page and his Instagram .
Day 36 . Ramp It Up . If Pete had a catch phrase it would be ‘ramp it up’. I concluded that the fact I was hearing him utter these words more often was a sign that we were making progress, and we were. Naturally as I get stronger, I am able to handle more, and more was exactly what I needed. The question now was, did the NHS have the resources to provide the necessary hours of physio I required? As Pete tussled to get what we needed from the powers that be, I was finding other productive ways to entertain myself. For example, I discovered that the footplate at the end of my bed doubled up nicely as a way to keep the upper body ticking over. I couldn’t help myself, the urge to do more, move more, try more, was building by the day and if this meant taking my bed apart then so be it. . These urges got me wondering what else was out there. Was there somewhere with better equipment…probably. Was there somewhere with more physios…most likely. Was there somewhere with funnier nurses…I doubt it. Was there somewhere with another Pete…definitely not. The bottom line was, I didn’t want to leave but I knew I had to do what was best for my recovery. It was never a question of the quality, just the volume that they could facilitate. Thankfully though, with Pete’s connections 🇮🇹🐴👀, we had green light from above and the decision was made. The NHS had cleared me to have the extra input I required enabling me to stay here with my dysfunctional family on Helena Ward. . Oh and by the way my left hand had decided to join the party and get its wiggle on! Unfortunately celebrations were limited to cranberry juice and laxatives but a wins a win. ✌️
A post shared by Ed Jackson (@edjackson8) on May 17, 2017 at 3:15pm PDT
The RPA said in a statement it was saddened by the news of Jackson’s injury and that it was committed to supporting its members.
“We have been wholly inspired by Ed’s indomitable strength of character as he continues to make progress with his rehabilitation,” the statement said.
Bath-born Jackson made 36 appearances for the Dragons after joining from Wasps in 2015 and signed a contract extension with the region in December, 2016.
Like this: Like Loading...