Australian BMX rider Sam Willoughby starts long road to recovery in rehab

AUSTRALIAN BMX cyclist Sam Willoughby has begun rehab following a training accident that left him with no movement below his chest.

BMX star Sam Willoughby in hospital after his accident.

AUSTRALIAN BMX cyclist Sam Willoughby, who won the silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics, has begun rehab following a training accident that left him with two fractured vertebrae and no movement below his chest.

Willoughby got hurt last month following the crash at his home track at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California, the rider’s family has said in a statement through Cycling Australia.

Willoughby was airlifted to a hospital, and doctors performed an operation that involved replacing one vertebra with a titanium cage, and the fusion of two others.

His fiance, American BMX rider Alise Post, and his family have set up a website to update his condition. The family said Willoughby has slowly regained the use of his arms, and that he is slowly regaining sensations in his legs, but still had no movement from his chest down.

“He is keeping a positive attitude and working hard towards his goal of walking down the aisle with his fiance,” Willoughby’s friend, Tyler Brown, who runs the public track at the Chula Vista facility, said this week.

Post won a silver medal at this year’s Games in Rio.

Willoughby was a favourite in the men’s draw, but finished sixth in the final. A wedding date was set for April 15, 2017.

Post has put her schedule on hold to stay close to Willoughby, missing a race in South Carolina and skipping a trip to the White House for U.S. Olympians.

“As much as I would love to be celebrating my recent Olympics success ... right now the most important thing for me is to be here for (Willoughby) as he faces the biggest obstacle of his life,” Post wrote on Instagram last week.

BMX riders have rallied around Willoughby, scheduling fundraisers to help pay for medical bills. One such event is being held by Olympic gold medalist Connor Fields on October 14 in Boulder City, Nevada. Arielle Martin-Verhaaren, who qualified for the 2012 Olympics, is holding a charity event in Hampton, Virginia; and Brown is organizing an event at the Chula Vista track on November 5.

“The BMX community have been amazing coming together to help a fallen rider and do everything they can to raise funds for him in his time of need,” Brown said in an email.

Originally published as Australian BMX rider Sam Willoughby starts long road to recovery in rehab