North jockey's brave fight back from horror fall

Jun 12 2011 by Coreena Ford, Sunday Sun

Andrew Lakeman

A JOCKEY who cheated death in a horror fall has overcome his paralysis...to return to horse racing as a trainer.

A tattoo emblazoned on Andrew Lakeman’s right forearm fittingly declares ‘Believe’, and the County Durham man has certainly taken his own advice.

The 32-year-old was left paralysed from the chest down after falling during a horse race, leaving him with shocking injuries he was lucky to survive.

He broke his neck in three places, completely severed his spinal cord, suffered five broken ribs and punctured both lungs.

His sternum was cracked in two places and his vocal chords were also paralysed for almost five months.

The injuries came about on May 25, 2007 when Andrew, of South Hetton, County Durham, was riding a horse called Our Montana Dream at Belmont Park in New York, US.

His filly clipped the heels of another horse and tumbled to the track, where Andrew was trampled by another horse.

Four years on, however, despite being in a wheelchair and facing physical challenges on a daily basis, Andrew has returned to the sport – thanks to his unwavering Northern spirit and years of rehabilitation with dedicated doctors.

“The first thing I remember is waking up in hospital and my sister Lynette was there,” he recalled.

“My vocal chords were paralysed so I couldn’t speak.”

The former Shotton Hall School pupil’s parents William and Lynn flew out to the North Shore Long Island Hospital, New York, where he was treated for five weeks before being transferred to Mount Sinai Medical Center, famed for physio and rehabilitation, all the time under the care of spinal specialist Dr Adam Stein.

“He told me straight away that I was paralysed and I would never walk again,” he said.

“I was shown all the x-rays and you could see right through my spinal cord. Apparently I died twice on the operating table but they brought me back.

“I never really thought about how hard it was going to be.”

Andrew had been living in the US, working as jockey at Belmont, for five years when he had the accident.

He considered returning home to the North East but eventually decided to stay in Belmont, in a home which has been fully converted with wheelchair access and an adapted bathroom and bedroom, with help through the US Worker’s Compensation system.