Adventurer joins rescue team who saved his life
ONE year ago Niall McCann was told he may never walk again after shattering his spine when his parachute crashed into the side of Pen Y Fan.
But the adventurer has turned his life around after defying doctors’ expectations. And now he has decided to volunteer for the mountain rescue team who saved his life.
The 35-year-old, from Cardiff, broke five vertebrae in his spine, one of which was “completely” obliterated, when a speed flying exercise in the Brecon Beacons with his brother went disastrously wrong.
After undergoing two operations to repair his back, a stint at the University Hospital of Wales’ (UHW) trauma unit, followed by rehabilitation at University Hospital Llandough, he stood up just 19 days after the accident. Speaking about the accident, Niall said: “I have always been a serious adventurer and expeditioner and after years of doing long and difficult expeditions I wanted to try something a bit different, something that would give me an instant adrenaline rush.
“I had been speed flying for about two years when I had the crash. I wasn’t very good at it.”
When describing the impact, he added: “To my great surprise I came to a stop.
“The parachute was wrapped around me but I tried to get up and sort myself out. Unfortunately my legs wouldn’t work.”
Niall was saved by members of the Brecon Mountain Rescue Team (MRT), who he had been training with, and HM Coastguard, who he credits with saving his life.
In August 2016, Niall was strong enough to walk back up Pen Y fan and was met a the summit by some of the people who had saved his life.
After a year following a rigorous physiotherapy regime and one year on from the accident that left him unable to walk, he has become a volunteer for the mountain rescue team to work with some of the rescuers who saved him.
Niall said: “I was three weeks into my training with Brecon Mountain Rescue Team at the time of the accident, and have now re-joined the team to complete my training.
“I feel privileged to work side-byside with the volunteers who saved my life; it is such an important charity. I’ve had a fair amount of medical training. I was the de-facto medic on expeditions to many hard-to-reach places, all over the world. You have to be calm under pressure when there’s no back-up coming.
“Now that I’ve experienced the other side of a rescue I feel like I’m better able to help others.”
For biologist Niall, adventure is in his blood – his grandfather Pat Baird was an explorer who led the first expedition to the Cumberland Peninsula on Baffin Island in Canada, having the Baird Peninsula named after him. His parents were also biologists and keen travellers too.
Niall’s adventures include cycling 1,500 miles along the Khunjerab pass in the Himalayas, canoeing along the Yukon river in Canada, manhauling across Greenland Icecap in temperatures of -42C, and rowing across the Atlantic Ocean.