BATTLED BACK FROM HORROR HEAD INJURIES
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cheekbone and jaw, a damaged vertebrae as well as bleeding on the brain.
Scottie said: “I usually wear a helmet but I was going out after work that day so hadn’t wanted to carry the helmet about with me.
“I met up with Katie and a couple of friends. Because it was so foggy, Katie wanted me to get a taxi home but my bike was quite new and I didn’t want to leave it in town so I decided to cycle back.
“I cycle Brighton seafront all the time and had no memory of ever seeing a bus stop there. But clearly there was and I crashed into it, with my head and face taking the full brunt of the impact.
“My face was broken from top to bottom.
“I don’t remember anything about what happened, but I know I owe my life to the people who rushed to my aid so quickly or I would have bled to death.”
Scottie was transferred to Hurstwood Park Neurological Centre in west Sussex, where he spent four days in a coma and the next three weeks in intensive care.
He said: “The accident happened on the Friday and when I finally woke up on the Monday, at first I thought I was dreaming.
“I didn’t know what had happened but I was alive so things could have been much worse.”
In the days and weeks that followed, Scottie had to have a number of operations, repeated scans and other procedures including having screws inserted in his jaw and metal plates fitted in his face.
Scottie said: “When I woke up from the coma, I knew I could move my legs but I didn’t know if I could walk. It was three weeks on from the accident before I was finally allowed to get out of bed.
“I remember feeling really scared about even trying to take two steps – it felt so strange.
“On my second day of being out of bed, my physio suggested to Katie and I that we take a slow walk round the hospital corridor.
“Before the accident, we had a joke that wherever we went we would do a little Lindy Hop dance move known as a ‘swing out’.
“I told Katie I wanted to try a ‘swing out’ and while it was really shaky, from that moment on I knew I wouldn’t just be able to walk again, but that I was determined I would dance again, too.”
Scottie, whose late father Maurice was a professional footballer with Queen of the South, Hear ts, Montrose and Stenhousemuir, is in no doubt he owes his recovery to the team of medics who supported both him and Katie after the accident in March 2014.
Six months on from the accident, Scottie proposed to Katie while on a romantic trip to Paris.
The couple got married in New Zealand, where Scottie’s mum and sister live, before travelling back to Brighton for a wedding party with their family and friends. Scottie, who has also now returnedd to cycling, said: “Everythingg that happened has taught Katiee and I that life is too short to putt things off.
“We went through so much together in those whirlwind months after our first dance.
“But we knew if we could make it through all that, we could make it through anything together.
“When we were looking for wedding venues, we saw that we could have our celebration at a beautiful spot on the seafront at Brighton – just a few metres away from where my accident took place and on the first anniversary of the date it happened.
“So I gave my wedding speech and we had our wedding dance at pretty much the same spot where one year earlier I had almost died. “The wedding really did bring a sensesen of closure to the year-yealong journey that had changedcha my life.” ThreeT years on from the accident,acci Scottie is now a keen supporter of the charity Headway. Head TheirThe work helps to improve the l ives of those who have suffereds a brain injury, includinginclud strokes. He ssaid: “I would say I am probablybbl 95 per cent recovered from my brain injury. “My balance isn’t as good as it was before, I’ve got a bit of nerve damage in my leg and some numbness in my face – but I know how lucky I am. “Everyone recovers differently from a brain injury. You just have to listen to the experts and take one day at a time. “I am eternal ly grateful to Headway and the NHS for my continuing recovery. “And I hope the story of my recovery might inspire others.”