John McGuinness reflects on his progress over the last year
Our man reflects on how far he’s come over a difficult 12 months
Iwas thinking the other day about how things can change so much in a year. Look at me, I’m in a miles better situation than I was this time last year.
It’s the small things, like you take walking for granted. When you can’t walk, you can’t even take a cup of tea from the kitchen to the front room without spilling half of it.
I was in a world of shite 12 months ago. I couldn’t sleep, I wouldn’t eat, I had no power, no energy, no strength and I was taking painkillers like they were sweets. I was a bit of a split personality, I was narky, nasty and shouty to those around me when I needed them most… I couldn’t drive, I couldn’t do anything really.
Getting the cage off changed everything and it’s been a slow and difficult year but look where I am now. Sure, I’ve got a limp, my leg is swollen and it’s never going to be quite the same but it’s not stopping me from doing anything I want to do. If I want to go out, I can go out. I can drive, I can ride bikes.
There are a lot of things that my wife Becky talks about from last year that I can’t even remember. I think I’ve tried to erase a lot of it from my memory; the light was on but nobody was home, it was a horrible time. I guess I could have sat on my arse on the sofa and been miserable, but I did everything I could to keep doing things. I think that made me even more tired and even more grumpy, but it gave me what I needed to push on. I didn’t give up.
I am really looking forward to 2019, to racing the Norton and to getting a few more race wins under my belt. In the meantime, I’m going to get stuck into a bit of turkey. Happy Christmas all!
‘I WAS TAKING PAINKILLERS LIKE THEY WERE SWEETS’