Paragolfer gives Gary ‘new lease of life’

• Gary Neill was paralysed from the belly button down in 2012
• Is now back playing golf after finding out about the Paragolfer
• Craigielaw Golf Club about to purchase two, which cost £20,000

After suffering a spinal trauma in September 2012, Gary Neill thought his days of playing golf were over.

The 42-year-old spent three-and-a-half weeks in an induced coma at Edinburgh’s Western General Hospital after contracting Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis (ADEM), which can be triggered by a viral infection such as the flu or even a coldsore.

The illness chewed away at Gary’s spinal cord and after waking up in intensive care without being able to speak, it took two months until he realised that he was paralysed from the belly button down.

For Gary, a golf club member and painter and decorator by trade, the prognosis was understandably difficult to come to terms with.

“I was always playing golf no matter what” – Gary Neill

“I played almost every weekend, sometimes on a Wednesday, so I was always playing golf no matter what,” said Gary, who lives with his wife Jennifer in Rosewell, Midlothian. “I’d been a member at Swanston Golf Club for about six-eight years and when I was in hospital, I unsubscribed from bunkered* because it got me down knowing that I’d never be able to play golf again.”

But that’s where Gary was wrong. Earlier this year, two-and-a-half years after losing the power of his legs and shortly after selling his golf clubs, he came across the Paragolfer on the internet – a revolutionary £20,000 machine designed by German company Ottobock which enables disabled people to play golf.

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What’s more, Gary became aware that Mearns Castle Golf Academy in Glasgow had their very own Paragolfer, and in March he went to try it out on the range for the first time.

“It was a strange feeling,” he admitted. “When you get on it and stand up you feel like you’re going to fall out, but you can’t because you’re strapped in and once I got used to it and started practicing swinging, it felt so great to be getting back to the sport that I loved playing.”

And Gary, who used the Paragolfer for a second time at The Duke’s Golf Course last weekend, could soon be back playing on a far more regular basis after it was revealed that Craigielaw Golf Club in East Lothian is in the final stages of ordering two of the machines.

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Unknown to Gary at the time, some members at Craigielaw had already been helping to fundraise for a Paragolfer starting in the autumn last year, by vowing to wear shorts during their rounds throughout the winter months.

And after overcoming some early issues regarding fundraising, it was the club’s ties with Loretto school which really set the wheels in motion.

“Craigielaw has a long-standing affiliation with Loretto school and with them being a registered charity, it gave the mechanism to start asking for donations,” said Craigielaw member Neil McAllister, who is also part of the ‘Golfers in Shorts’ Facebook page.

“We’re nearly at the position where we can buy two of them” – Neil McAllister

“Now, with some substantial donations made, we’re nearly at the position where we can buy two of them and in some ways, it’s got a bit ahead of ourselves as we had no idea we’d be in this position so quickly.”

It’s safe to say that Craigielaw will have a new member on the arrival of their pair of Paragolfers, and Gary – who has recently tried tennis and is wanting to try skiing – is excited about the prospect of playing regularly again.

He said: “My wife is coming to terms with the fact that she’s going to be a golf widow again. In all seriousness though, she’s over the moon that I’ve got back to doing something and it’s safe to say the Paragolfer has given me a new lease of life.”

*Since discovering the Paragolfer, Gary has subscribed to bunkered once more!

Paragolfer :: Your thoughts

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