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NEW ZEALAND SPINAL TRUST 26<br />
Jayden’s Story<br />
Adrenaline junkie targets Paralympics after life-changing injury.<br />
GOOD TO BE AROUND—Through it all, Jayden has retained his<br />
sense of humour and love of extreme sports. Credit: Jeremy Brick.<br />
Speeding down mountains over snow or dirt<br />
has been a long-time passion for 19-year-old<br />
Para athlete Jayden Glentworth.<br />
He’s always led an active life and has been drawn to<br />
adrenaline-pumping sports from a young age. But it<br />
was just this type of activity that changed his life forever<br />
when a devastating accident sent it flying in an<br />
unexpected direction.<br />
Four years ago, Jayden was mountain biking with his<br />
mates in the Arapuke Forest outside Palmerston North<br />
when he crashed while attempting one of the most<br />
difficult jumps on the track, which he’d already completed<br />
with no problems three times that day.<br />
“I don't know what happened exactly,” he says. “I don't<br />
fully remember, but I ended up crashing. When I came to,<br />
I was curled up in a ball. It all just felt a bit wrong, so I lay<br />
back and had a breather.”<br />
His mates found him on the ground, unable to move or<br />
feel his legs. “I tried to move my legs and I couldn’t. My<br />
mates were asking me if I was all right and I remember<br />
saying, ‘Boys, I can’t feel my legs’.”<br />
—Jayden Glentworth<br />
I remember saying,<br />
‘Boys, I can’t feel my legs’.<br />
Jayden had sustained a T12 burst fracture in his spine.<br />
His Dad Mark was working when he received a phone call<br />
from Jayden’s phone. It was a paramedic who said there<br />
had been a crash, they had been called up there and the<br />
helicopter was enroute. “I have been in the NZ Police for<br />
30 years, so I am used to being involved in traumatic<br />
situations and I knew it was significant for him to be<br />
flown directly to Christchurch,” he says.<br />
His Mum Kathy didn’t want to believe what she was<br />
hearing. “There was a bit of denial for me,” she says. “I am<br />
quite an optimist so right from the start I was thinking<br />
that he would be fine. It’s been a hard ride that’s for sure.”<br />
Jayden was airlifted to Christchurch Hospital for<br />
emergency surgery, then transferred to Burwood Spinal
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