Eoghan Gorman loved mountain biking. He was a furniture builder by trade. In his spare time, he was heavily involved in sport, having represented Ireland in the 2016 World Kickboxing championship.
Now, the only movement the 26-year-old can make is from his shoulders up, after he fell off his bike in the Dublin mountains, broke his neck, and was paralysed. This accident, in October 2022, “turned my whole life upside down”, he says.
He was alone in hospital when he was first told about the extent of his injury. “They just said it out straight. Very honest. They said I wouldn’t walk again and would need to be on a ventilator or breathing machine for the rest of my life.”
“Initially, I was in denial. I just kept thinking: who is she? She’s wrong. She doesn’t even know me,” he says. “I was determined to prove those statements false.”
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He felt some anger after the denial of his injury subsided, he says, but he is not a person to dwell on negative emotions.
“I like to look at one problem at a time. That one problem was my injury. If I was angry at myself, then that was creating two problems,” he says. “But you do feel like your whole world has been robbed, everything you had planned.”
In Ireland there are, on average, 60-65 traumatic spinal cord injuries per year, and about 129 nontraumatic.
For traumatic injuries, the most common way they happen is through falls, though previously it was road traffic collisions. For nontraumatic, degenerative conditions are the most common cause, which is increasing due to people now living longer.
I’m essentially completely dependent on other people. That chair opened doors for me that I never thought I’d get back
— Eoghan Gorman
Dr Éimear Smith, a consultant in rehabilitative medicine in the National Rehabilitation and Mater hospitals, says spinal cord injuries are not all the same, and the severity will depend on the site of injury, such as in the neck or lower back.
“The perception of the public is that it’s just about paralysis but actually it’s way more than that. People with spinal cord injury tell us it’s the body function stuff that’s truly troublesome,” she says.
“So like a change in control of your bladder or bowel; the ability to regulate your blood pressure; you can have a change in your respiratory system and your breathing so you can’t cough like before; there’s a change in sexual function; you can have nerve pain; you can get a lot of spasms. It’s a multi-system condition.”
The extent of Gorman’s injuries meant he was in the Mater hospital for four months, before spending 2½ years in the National Rehabilitation Hospital. The length of time he spent in the NRH, he says, was largely due to difficulty in identifying a home and care package suited to his needs.
“That’s very hard for anyone ... That’s not where I pictured spending my 20s. It’s hard to accept things, to begin to move on and live your new life when you’re still in hospital,” he says, adding that there needs to be better supports to help people with disabilities reintegrate back into the community.
“You have to fight for a lot of things you shouldn’t have to fight for,” he says, referring to things like home support and housing adaptation grants.
According to Dr Smith, speaking before a Spinal Injuries Ireland conference in the RDS Dublin on Saturday, there have been technological advancements that have made life easier for some individuals with these injuries. The one that has made one of the biggest impacts, she says, is the wheelchair.
“There’s been great development in both manual chairs and power chairs in recent times,” she says. “If you take powered-mobility, even if you don’t have any movement anywhere in your body, you can drive a power chair using head controls or using chin controls.”
“Even a lot of the mainstream technologies that are now in use, like the Alexas and Google Home, all of those, they can be very useful as well. The mainstream technology has probably been just as valuable as some of the spinal cord-specific technology.”
Exoskeletons – wearable structures that support and assist movement – are another breakthrough. However, Dr Smith said they haven’t been as “revolutionary” as those working in the sector initially believed they could be.
“Yes, if you’re paralysed, they can get you up into a standing position and you can take steps. But you’ve got this big suit on you and you’re carrying a backpack and you’ve to use crutches, so they’re not that functional,” she says.
For Gorman, who is originally from Clondalkin, but living in Lucan since leaving hospital, having a power chair has been monumental for him, returning some of his independence.
“Initially all of your independence is taken away,” he says. “I’m essentially completely dependent on other people. That chair opened doors for me that I never thought I’d get back.
“It means I can go inside if I’m cold, go outside when it’s nice out. I can reposition myself when watching the TV. That was all gone straight after the injury. I had to get someone else to do it.”
But there are difficulties with this, too, he says, as Dublin is not always an accessible city to get around.
“There are issues you meet everyday of the week that someone might walk past but you can’t if you’re in a wheelchair. You have to be in the chair to realise how many small hurdles you have to get over. There are potholes everywhere, it can be so hard to get around,” he adds.
According to Dr Smith, the quality of life for individuals with spinal cord injuries is largely related to the support system they have around them.
It’s hard to rebuild friendships and relationships with family members because your whole life has changed, so the relationship you have with them has changed as well
— Eoghan Gorman
“It’s about their psychosocial situation. If you’ve good family support, the more educated you are and the type of work you do are probably the things that are more impactful on quality of life than the severity of your injury,” she says.
Gorman has a carer with him 12 hours a day. But, he says, his partner Saoirse has been his rock through this life-altering process. Their relationship, he says, “is the only bit of normality I’ve kind of brought through”.
“It’s hard to rebuild friendships and relationships with family members because your whole life has changed, so the relationship you have with them has changed as well.”
But now, he has been back in the community for three months. He is able to breathe independently and no longer requires a ventilator. He is also trying to readapt to what his new life will look like.
“There is no task that is simple. You’re tested minute by minute so you need to be resilient. I’m trying to relearn the happiness, find new hobbies and make plans. A thing I want to definitely get back to doing is travel and have holidays. I want that just like everybody else. I want to regain that. It takes a lot of planning, but I’m hopeful for it.”
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