'I was paralysed from the shoulders down, but now I climb mountains'

• In 2017 professional rugby player Ed Jackson broke his neck in a swimming accident, and was told he might not walk or stand again. Less than a year after breaking his neck he defied all the odds to climb Snowden.

• He's the subject of an inspirational new documentary The Mountain Within Me which follows Ed's journey on his recovery as he achieves the mental and physical heights of Snowdonia, the Alps and Himalayas to the life-altering challenges closer to home.

I was born in Bath and grew up loving rugby and when I left school, I was fortunate enough to do that for a job. I spent 10 years as a professional rugby player and it was my identity.

Then, in April 2017, when I was 28 years old, I had an accident. I’d gone back to see my family and we went to a family friend’s house and they had a feature pool with a waterfall. Only I misjudged its depth and I ended up seriously breaking my neck.

I dislocated the C6 and C7 vertebrae and was rendered completely paralysed from the shoulders down. Fortunately my dad and one of my friends were there to stop me from drowning, but I did end up being resuscitated three times in the ambulance. After a seven-hour operation, I woke up in intensive care with no movement or sensation below the shoulders. All I could do was shrug my right shoulder.

That time in hospital was tough. There was a lot of uncertainty, a lot of anxiety, a lot of dark thoughts in that first week as nothing came back. They were hoping for me to get some use of my arms back, so that I could use a wheelchair, but they weren't expecting me to ever walk or stand again. That was a tough thing to hear, but weirdly, being told that, it put a line in the sand. It actually made me realise that this wasn't just about me, this was going to be about anyone that was going to have to care for me for the rest of my life.

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But then, 36 hours later, my toe wiggled. That meant that all bets were off — there was still some hope because it meant that there were still some nerves attached. I then spent every waking hour doing everything I could to try and get whatever I could back.

Nine months after the accident I was back at home and finding it quite tough to stay motivated to keep rehabbing and pushing, because everyone else had gone back to their everyday lives, and there was no end in sight — was I going to have to do this forever? I wanted a goal to aim for and that's when the idea of climbing Snowden came about.

Watch the trailer for The Mountain Within Me

At that time I hadn't been walking very far at all, I was still using a wheelchair occasionally, but I didn't really mind if I got up there or not, I just wanted to be seen on my feet. That was the initial plan, so it would send the right message. When we got there, we were surprised how many people came out in support, and nine hours later, there we were, stood up on Snowden. It ended up being the most incredible weekend, and the catalyst for everything that's happened since.

I then decided to climb the French Alps. Standing on the top of Mont Buet 17-18 months after my accident was an amazing feeling. It wasn’t somewhere I’d have thought I would have ever stood. I was now going to the kind of places I'd never been, even before my accident. There was a lot of gratitude during those times and still is to this day, because you do appreciate that you've lost everything, and I had to come to terms with the fact that I wasn't getting everything back.

But the bar does move, and I really do now appreciate the fact that I can walk down the stairs and feed myself and drive a car and all of those things that I had to contemplate never being able to do again.

My new film The Mountain Within Me came about when a producer named Helen Parker called and said, “I’ve read your book [Lucky, published in 2021] and we’d like to make a documentary.” And so they assigned a director, Polly Steele, and that was about three years ago, and the rest is history. And now it’s about to hit cinemas, which is crazy after all that time, especially as we had to keep it a secret.

My next challenge is the Paralympics, because I’m hosting the athletics [on Channel 4]. It's a big responsibility, but also a really exciting one. I’m also in the early stages of planning to climb a big unclimbed peak in Kyrgyzstan next year.

It’s now seven years since my accident and I'm still seeing improvements. Just a year ago I had 50% of my temperature sensation come back on my right side, virtually overnight. So that just shows that there are still neurons recovering and growing. The main thing is just to keep active and keep pushing. Although it can be tough at times, you need to if those neurons are going to regrow.

So I will keep pushing, and I will keep training, and I will keep doing rehab. Having said that, I've got a life to live as well, and a wife to be with, and all of the stuff that I'm doing with the charity [Jackson formed the non-profit organisation M2M in 2018]. It's very much finding a balance of the two.

The Mountain Within Me, directed by Polly Steele, is in UK cinemas from 23 August, with preview Q&A screenings from 19 August. For more info click here.

Ed Jackson told his story to Steve O'Brien.