As someone who was told he would never walk again after being hit by a car as a child, Adam Savage has become used to defying the odds.
And now, he’s doing so again — as he prepares to shrug off a shoulder injury and embark on a skydive for a cause close to his heart.
Adam, from Newark, will be doing a Tandem Sky Dive at Langar Airfield this Sunday (July 7) to raise funds for Newark Children's Bereavement Centre.
Three days after his jump, on July 10, he is going into surgery to repair a torn tendon in his shoulder at Newark Hospital — a condition that won’t stop him from carrying out his charity mission.
Last year, he completed his first skydive, an indoor dive in a wind tunnel. He did 32 jumps, each one lasting 2 minutes over two visits at Milton Keynes Indoor Skydive.
“I jumped at the chance to do one to raise money for the children's bereavement centre, inspire people to keep fit and to prove that anything is possible if you set your mind to it,” said Adam.
When he was just 11 a car hit him at 90mph while he was on his bike, leaving him in a coma for six weeks and his parents were told to expect the worse.
When he woke from my coma he had to relearn everything — and was told by the doctors that he would not walk again.
In April this year, Adam completed the London Marathon in a total of five hours and 58 minutes.
Last year, when completing the Newark Half Marathon, he also raised funds for Newark’s Children Bereavement Centre.
He added: “I am also doing this to prove to people even if you have a disability anything is possible.
“I would also like to think that someone who is going through a bad time or has a disability and has given up will read this and be inspired that they can do it.
“It just shows that anything is possible after being told I would never walk again after my road accident and now I have run the London Marathon, and I am going to jump out of an aeroplane.
“It is hard to describe but when you have come so close to death you look at life differently.”
He had to obtain a medical certificate because of his former brain injury. He spoke to — and was advised by — the British Sky Diving Association, which supported him with contacts to get the certificate he needed.
“It has been a nightmare to sort out but I wasn't going to be beaten!” added Adam.
