+ 0 1 .INSIGHT N ICK Benwell had a well-paid job at a mine, a buzzing social life and an adventurous streak. In many ways he was the quintessential Aussie lad; who worked hard, partied hard, and was a bit of a larrikin who would do anything for his mates. ' -At the heart of his passion for life were his motorbikes but it was that passion that would change his life forever. On June 3, 2012, while riding his dirt-bike on an off-road track in the Riverland, he slammed into a tree stump, hidden under scrub. The impact catapulted the electrician more than Sm from his motorcycle and he landed on his head, paralysing him from the neck down. "I knew I was immediately paralysed," he says. "I was just thinking about how hard I had worked to get where I was. But the biggest thing I was worried about was my little brother who had been with us (on the trip). I didn't want to die right in front of him. I felt like I was just hanging on (to life). "My life was a lot different to what it is now. I was living with two friends in Norwood, we had a 'townhouse that backed on to The Parade and 1 had a busy social calender. "I was into motorbikes - I had a race bike for the track, a road bike and the dirt bike." + SUNDAY MARCH 22 2015 ADVERTISER.COM.AU He says be used to go to the horse racing, on wine tours and would go on a holiday every three months when he wasn't working hard in Western Australia. "The life I lived was one that a lot of people looked on with envy ... I had enough money to do what I liked - I lived a great lifestyle," he says. "And then suddenly I was completely debilitated. "Now I'm in a situation where I'm lying in bed and I get a bit of sleep in my eye and I can't even clear that out. Even simple itches on your head and your face you can't satisfy. There were points where I was lying in a hospital bed and couldn't call out to anyone and I could be stuck in agony for hours. "It really felt like I should have just died in that accident - like 'what is the point of being where I am now?"' After nine weeks in Royal Adelaide Hospital's Intensive Care Unit, Mr Benwell was able to breathe on bis own, eat and talk. He spent a year at Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre, where he started to adjust to his new life. It was during his time in a hospital-like environment where Mr Benwell was at his lowest. "I definitely went through a bout of suicidal tendencies, thinking 'all I'm doing is surviving, I'm not living'," he says. "But once I got out of the hospital environment and into support accommodation, I was able to turn my mind around. "Now I'm glad I did survive the accident." It can take just a split second for a South Australian to suffer a life-changing spinal cord injury. According to notfor-profit support group ParaquadSA, about 40 to 50 South Australians become a paraplegic or quadraplegic each year - about half of those from road accidents. "It doesn't sound like a big number but when you look at the impact on those individuals, it's massive," ParaquadSA chief executive Peter Stewart says. He says males aged 15-24 are five times more likely to suffer spinal injuries. "That, unfortunately, is due to risktaking behaviour - males tend to be a bit more dimwitted than females,'' he says. Mr Stewart says the emotional toll is profound, but spinal cord injuries also have a significant cost to the community. He says it costs about $6 million to support a paraplegic over the course of a lifetime, up to $10m to support a quadriplegic for life and costs the state $200m a year. "It's not cheap provide that support," he says. ......,._.. "The costs will increase over time -people are living with spinal cord injury for longer." Former Adelaide triathlete Yvette Eglinton found out she had qualified for the World Triathlon Championships shortly after she suffered a spinal cord injury during training. As part of her vigorous training regime, the Hallett Cove woman, 35, would cycle to work with her partner Kriston Bott, 39, every morning. But on March 31, 2009, she pushed up on her pedals to catch up with her partner on a steeper section of the Esplanade, in Brighton, when she hit a pothole. She was flung over the handlebars and hit her head on the road. "(My partner) saw the whole thing happen, which would have been horrible," she said. '1t was normal for us to ride to -work and it was just unfortunate that day ended in in rowing. When she did not such life-changing circum- qualify, she decided it was time stances. I couldn't feel from my to start a family. She and Mr chest down so I knew there Bott now have two sons, was something wrong straight Dylan, 20 months, and Jensen, who was born on February 12. away," she said. ''When I was looking at She sustained a spinal cord injury at T4 starting a family, thankfully there and broke her IWASA was a girl out at neckat Cl. 'When I the Barossa VERY HAPPY who has been was in rehab GUY BEFORE AND in a wheelthere was a IT HAS COME BACK chair for 16 guy there who years and she's was a quadri-IT HAS JUST got two girls," plegic. He had a helicopter acci- TAKEN A WHILE. she said. ".I went there and spoke to dent, and he had two young kids and her and I think it's imyou just feel sorry for him portant for young women in because he couldn't even hug wheelchairs to have that contact. She had no one to help his children," she said. "He would have given any- her when she had her kids. "I was thankful to have her thing in the world to have the ability I had and he still had a for advice, and just knowing good attitude, he was just you can do it." Mr Stewart says SCI sufferhappy to be alive. "You just have to think, ers inspire him every day with 'these are the cards I have been their positivity and ability to dealt' . I took it in my stride but adjust to new lives. After a SCI I had a lot of moments where I they can have diminished cawould break down and start reer prospects, difficulty with new and existing relationships, crying." Once discharged from and may lose friends. Hampstead Rehabilitation 'We do see there's a drop Centre after four-and-a-half off rate with friends ... because months, Ms Eglinton went they find their friend is a differ~~ back to work as a mar- ent person after an accident "' ..... ine biologist for the ahd it becomes hard to relate," State Government. he says. "(Paraquad SA) focus ~ She also got straight on the loss of mobility, but it's .,. back into sport, the loss of everything else that training for the Lon- just bas an enormous impact don 2012 Paralympics on the individuals, their family ADVEOlZO!MA - 111