Jim Ashworth-Beaumont, a former Royal Marine, was critically injured in a cycling accident in July 2020 when a lorry struck him, severing his arm and causing severe internal injuries. He spent six weeks in a coma as surgeons worked to save him. Before the accident, he had trained as an orthotist, specializing in prosthetics and orthotics. Almost four years later, he reflects on his journey, crediting the support of his wife, Keri, for helping him cope with his life-changing injuries.
Weeks after the accident, Ashworth-Beaumont would see a photo of the severed limb taken by a doctor while it lay beside him in hospital. He had asked to see the picture and says it helped him come to terms with his loss.
As he lay on the road, waiting for the paramedics, his only thoughts were that he was dying. He did not have the wherewithal to consider the irony of his predicament.
Now I was the patient, he says. I meet Ashworth-Beaumont for the first time in Greenwich Park, near the south London home he shares with his wife, Keri, a solicitor he met on a night out in 2002.
Without Keri, I think I would have sat in a corner feeling sorry for myself and letting the world pass me by.
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