Huge leap of faith for RL player in horrific accident

Doctors told the ex-professional rugby league player that his injuries were so severe he would never be able to walk again, but he has defied medical expectations to get back on his feet – and has now even managed to do a skydive from 15,000 feet.

Mr Gittins, 36, from Wakefield, was left paralysed following the accident playing for a local side seven years ago.

He was also told he would be unable to father children – or fulfil his dream of skydiving.

But the former player with Wakefield Trinity and Dewsbury Rams has beaten the odds and achieved those dreams.

First, he managed to walk slowly down the aisle in 2007 using crutches to meet his sweetheart Lucy, and the couple were overjoyed when Lucy gave birth to little Annie Jude in March.

Now Mr Gittins is celebrating a third triumph against the odds – by jumping 15,000ft from an aeroplane in a fundraising skydive.

Mr Gittins, who is now the co-owner of a rehabilitation centre for people suffering similar injuries, said: "After the accident the only movement I could really make was shrugging my shoulders and the doctors said I would be able to stand up but that would be it, I would never walk again.

"I remember my dad saying 'give him a chance' and from then on I was determined to prove them wrong.

"Looking back the doctors wrote me off, and that was the best thing that could have happened. It gave me something to strive for.

"They said I wouldn't be able to conceive naturally due to the severity of my injuries and now I've got a baby wrecking the house to prove them wrong on that too.

"Now I've jumped out of a plane from 15,000ft," he added.

"This isn't where I thought I would be when I was in hospital after the accident."

Mr Gittins,who broke his neck in a tackle while playing for amateur side Sharlston Rovers, said intense physiotherapy allowed him to walk up the aisle to marry paramedic Lucy, 28, in June 2007.

The couple has been warned by doctors that their prospects of conceiving a child naturally were bleak – but were overjoyed when their daughter arrived.

Mr Gittins said: "I was determined to walk down the aisle to meet Lucy, I needed crutches to do it but it was the best feeling.

"We were ecstatic when Annie Jude arrived earlier this year. Although you're naturally happy when you have a baby, after being told you can't it's that bit more special.

"I had mixed feelings about the jump though – it was the height of pleasure in doing it but also the depths of fear.

"The plane journey was terrible, it was only a small plane and it seemed to be rocking and rolling about.

"I couldn't wait to jump out just so I could get out of that dodgy plane.

"I never dreamt I would ever be able to a skydive and it was an incredible thrill to complete it," he added.

Mr Gittins has raised thousands of pounds for the Steve Prescott Foundation – a rugby-playing friend who was diagnosed with a rare cancer in 2006 and given months to live.

Mr Prescott raised funds for hospitals and the Rugby League Benevolent Fund, and was awarded an MBE earlier this year.

Mr Gittins added: "Rugby league is no more dangerous than many other sports, it's just that in the highly unusual situation of a serious injury it tends to be a very, very serious life-changing injury such as mine. It was a freak."