‘I’ve done this to myself and I need to move on’
Teenager Louis Pilcher’s life changed in an instant when he came off his motorbike, a crash which left him paralysed. He told Will Janes why he refuses to let the accident stop him enjoying life...
Lying alone all day in a hospital bed after becoming paralysed in a horrific motorbike crash would break most people.
But somehow Louis Pilcher, from Tovil near Maidstone, is showing incredible strength and positivity in the face of losing the use of his legs after waking up from a two-week coma.
The plucky 19-year-old’s story began on May 21 when, after a difficult morning at work, he went to unwind at Blue Bell Hill picnic site during his lunch break. Realising he needed to get back to work, refurbishing computers for Digital Pipeline, a charity based in Priory Park, Aylesford which sends the machines to Africa, he hopped on his beloved Yamaha MT-07. Just minutes later, after hitting a patch of gravel going round a bend on the A229 sliproad at Rochester Road, he lost control of the bike - leaving the carriageway and being thrown through the air.
The former New Line Learning Academy pupil found himself lying on the ground by the side of the road.
Disoriented but in no pain he tried to pick himself up but couldn’t.
Helpless, he screamed out for help as he heard cars rush past on busy Blue Bell Hill. Finally, a woman in a passing transport ambulance came to his aid.
Paramedics and an air ambulance rushed to the scene. With blood filling up his lungs and clotting Louis could hardly breathe or talk and didn’t have much time.
Crews drained his lungs and flew him to King’s College Hospital after putting him into a coma.
“I started leaning into the corner and took it a bit too sharply and came out wide,” he remembered.
“You get a bit scared and fixate on one point and it’s hard to carry on thinking of other things except that you’re going to crash.
“I went onto a grass bank, my bike and bars wobbled. I did a sharp left because I was heading towards trees. “I crossed over a carriageway - not in control - and somehow I managed to ride up a cliff while my bike was smashing to bits. “I landed face down and remembered being on a concrete slab. I couldn’t see what was around me because of my