Choosing to sit tight

Having created a strong identity and personality as a wheelchair-user, Mik Scarlet woke up one day to find he could go back to walking

In 2003 I had to undergo a spinal reconstruction. By this time I had been a full-time wheelchair-user for 22 years, and had built the kind of life most able-bodied types dream of. I toured in bands, was a TV presenter and journalist, an actor and, if I'm truthful, a bit of a media whore. I had a fantastic fiancée who I loved and loved me back. In fact, the only bit of my life that was a bit crap at that time was the amount of pain I was in as my spine collapsed and the amount of strong painkilling medication I had to take for it. It was to stop this pain that I initially agreed to undergo major surgery.

When I came round after 15 hours, I immediately felt something was wrong. It was when I sat up for the first time I realised what it was. When my feet touched the floor I actually could feel it. I had been able to feel the bed sheets and breezes. I also found that I had loads of movement coming back too.

The medical staff were overjoyed. Not many spinal surgeons can claim to have cured a paraplegic! However, even though my nerves were working better now, I did have other issues. My right hip had dislocated years back, and over time it wore away. So if I was to walk I would need a false hip, that could have been fitted after I had laid in hospital for two months with an open wound, having my muscles and nerves stretched. Hmm. Then it became plain that my bone density wasn't up to walking, so I might also need a replacement knee and then ankle. Double hmm. Then I was told how long the physio might take... between two to four years.

Now, as I said, I really liked my life, but I was also very proud of being disabled (and still am!). I have never held any desire to be more like the able-bodied, and actually feel that becoming a wheelchair-user allowed me to fulfill my dreams and ambitions. My entire identity was as a wheelchair-user. Waking up one day to find that I had been cured was not the joyous event everyone else seemed to think it was. As the "walk again" pressure grew, my resolve against further painful operations and years of physio grew along with it. I can still remember the face of my surgeon when I told him that I liked being disabled, and would not be going ahead.

So now here I am, probably the first person to have been cured of paraplegia, and to decide to stay in a wheelchair. Because I am disabled, a wheelchair-user and I am proud of it.