‘I’m so proud to show kids what resilience can achieve’
Brave Melanie Woods raced in the Paralympics just three years after a bike crash left her unable to walk
MELANIE Woods doesn’t remember the exact moment that changed her life for ever – when a car struck her from behind and paralysed her. But she’ll never forget realising that she’d not be able to walk again.
Melanie had been out for a Saturday afternoon cycle ride in the countryside near Inverness in January 2018, when the crash happened.
She lay injured on the side of the road as it dawned on her that she no longer had any feeling in her legs. “The paramedic kept asking me to wiggle my toes. But I don’t think I answered because I knew I couldn’t and I knew what that meant,” says the Paralympian, who was just 23 at the time and working as a PE teacher in Inverness. “I just closed my eyes and kept them closed.”
As well as suffering a broken leg and pelvis, Melanie had eight fractured vertebrae and her spinal cord was severed. She was to spend seven tough months in hospital undergoing rehabilitation, while coming to terms with being paralysed from the waist down.
“It took a long time for it all to sink in,” admits the 27-yearold, who cried the first time she sat in a wheelchair. “I remember thinking: ‘This is so, so hard, I can’t see how it’s going to ever get better.’
“Simple things were a challenge and so much was out of my control. I’d set myself daily goals to feel like I was achieving something and to see myself becoming independent again.”
As her recovery advanced, Melanie’s thoughts returned to sport once more. “Then, when I left hospital and went to live with my parents in Glasgow I researched para sports. I was keen to see what was out there.”
National Lottery funding let me train intensively
Almost a year to the day after her accident, Melanie went along to check out the wheelchair racing at Red Star Athletics Club for people with disabilities.
“I just went to watch at first. They made it look so easy that I thought: ‘That’s a breeze.’ But that was before I got in a chair. When I did get in one, I was so bad.” But she relished the challenge. “It was exciting – I was so bad that I could only get better. It was just me in that chair, so anything I achieved would be a real reflection of my hard work.”
Soon she was training twice a day, six days a week, and made astounding progress. “It was like starting afresh. I thought that if anything good can come from this injury, I want it to have given me opportunities, so I’ve got to make this happen.” The year-long delay to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, due to Covid, gave Melanie 18 months to hone her skills – and ParalympicsGB came calling to compete in the 800m and 400m wheelchair races. “It was a massive confidence boost,” says Melanie, who finished fifth in the 800m race. Next month, she’s representing Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, competing in the 1500m wheelchair race. Thanks to National Lottery players, over £40million is going to support the Commonwealth Games.
“My National Lottery funding has allowed me to train intensively,” she says. “It helps with equipment costs and travelling to competitions, which are super-expensive, allowing me to gain experience in racing and compete at an elite level, against the best girls in the world.”
Melanie is still in touch with her former teaching colleagues. “They like to share the news of what I’m up to with the kids. It makes me super-proud that my story can show them what resilience looks like, and how you can come back from challenges that face you.”