Eddie’s losing his voice.. he needs Stephen Hawking’s machine
given up. But being able to communicate again would transform his life. He was given a piece of speech generating equipment by the NHS but it was prehistoric. So huge and bulky, it was impossible to take anywhere.
Jumps
“Eddie can’t have a private conversation with anyone because he always has to have a third party there to translate what he’s saying.
“This piece of equipment would give Eddie his life back. He would be able to do so much more because he will have his communication skills back.” Dad-of-three Eddie lives on benefits at his modest bungalow in Peacehaven, East Sussex.
It is a far cry from his days as the handsome hero to millions around the world whose his amazing motorbike jumps wowed so many fans.
He first stunned spectators in 1981 when he jumped
80ft across the gap in a derelict railway bridge in Essex on a 400cc
Yamaha. He went on t o play Dave
Munday in the film Riding
High. And in 1993 he leapt the Great Wall of China. That year he also beat Robbie Knievel, son of Evel Knievel, in a stunt bike world championship jump off. Eddie was also an advertisers’ dream. As well as fronting
major ad campaigns he had a modelling contract with Levi’s 501 jeans in 1987.
But in 1996 everything changed when he jumped 50ft across a Warwickshire air strip.
He completed the leap but hit his chin on the petrol tank on landing and knocked himself out.
The bike continued up and over a 20ft bank. Eddie suffered catastrophic head and pelvic injuries.
But he has refused t o be beaten by his disabilities.
In 2012, a year after his epic London Marathon achievement, he was awarded an OBE in t he Queen’s Birthday Honours in recognition of his services to charity.
Billie said: “Doing the marathon destroyed him. His health hasn’t been the same since.
“But he insisted on doing it, so as not to let the charity down. It was the same on the day of his accident.
“He should never have made the jump because cardboard boxes supposed to absorb his impact had not been put in place.
“But he insisted on doing it so as not to let his fans down. His whole life, Eddie has always put others first and he’s still paying the price.”
To help fund Eddie’s continuing physiotherapy and a new speech generating device, go the website uk.gofundme.com/eddie-kiddfights-back.