When it comes round every year, I call it my Happy Death Day. I know I really should have died in the crash but the thing is...i didn’t
Smash survivor and aspiring Paralympian skier refuses
– Aspiring Paralympian Callum Deboys
Having survived a near-fatal motorcycle crash, Callum Deboys was not going to let a global pandemic slow him down. Determined to represent Team GB at the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games, the 24-year-old para Nordic sit-skier has continued to train throughout lockdown. Callum, from Kirkmichael in South Ayrshire, took up the high-speed sport in 2018, just one year after he woke from a coma to learn he had lost his left leg after his devastating accident.
Unable to train at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow or compete in cross-country and biathlon events, Callum has swapped the mountains of Northern Europe for the streets around Ayrshire. Rain or shine, he continues to train on an adapted sled to keep his body race-ready and his times in line with the world’s best.
“It’s a shame to have missed out on the rest of this season but training has at least kept me busy during lockdown,” said Callum. “I attached my snow seat to a mountain board, a skateboard with big wheels, and have been practising around Ayrshire as the roads have been so quiet. People look a bit bewildered when I pass them but are interested in what I’m doing.”
Sit-skiing has already taken Callum around the world to compete in Canada, Norway, Sweden, Germany and Austria, after he quickly rose to 15th in the world for biathlon and 27th for cross-country.
A meteoric rise into the world of parasports is something Callum could never have imagined before the accident that changed his life three years ago. He had been travelling on his motorbike to the Trump Turnberry resort, where he worked as a pastry chef, when he suddenly had to swerve to avoid an oncoming car.
“I high-sided my bike, got flipped up and landed on my feet. The impact broke both my legs, my pelvis, two vertebrae, two ribs, punctured a lung and ruptured my diaphragm,” said Callum, who was 21 at the time. “It was a broken femur that cut my femoral artery, which meant my left leg had to be amputated. I was sedated by the roadside and airlifted to hospital, where I was rushed into theatre for over 20 hours of surgery. When it comes around, I say it’s my Happy Death Day because I should have died that day.” Callum woke from an induced coma three weeks later with no memory of the crash to learn that, while lucky to be alive, he was now an amputee.
“It was a total shock. I took me a few days to come to terms with what had happened and I did feel low at times,” he said. “During the month I spent in hospital recovering and learning to walk on my first prosthetic leg, I realised that this was a good opportunity to change my life and my mindset. Since the accident I’ve tried to take opportunities to challenge myself and do things I never thought
were possible.” Callum credits sport for his miraculous recovery. During his six-month rehabilitation, he took up rowing to help strengthen his core post-surgery. Meeting Scottish Paralympic sit-skier, Scott Meenagh, at the WESTMARC rehabilitation centre in Glasgow, set him on a path to the Winter Paralympics.
“About one year after my accident, Scott invited me to try para Nordic sit-skiing with the Armed Forces para-snowsport team at a training camp in Germany,” he explained. “We started in an underground snow tunnel. It felt amazing to be on the skis. Going that fast again gave me that same adrenaline rush that I missed from being on my motorbike.
“The first time I skied outside was in Trysil, Norway. It was the best experience because everything is so