Wheelchair-confined Beauchamp eager to regain full fitness |18 February 2005

Double Indian Ocean Islands Games (IOIG) long jump gold medallist in Seychelles (in 1993) and in Reunion (in 1998), Danny Beauchamp is eager to regain full fitness and walk again.

Since being involved in a road accident on July 4, 2004, Beauchamp has not been able to walk and he is expected to leave for the Miot Hospital in India on Monday February 21 for an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) for paraplegia.

Paraplegia is described as severe or complete loss of motor function in the lower extremities and lower portions of the trunk. This condition is most often associated with spinal cord diseases, although brain, peripheral nervous system, neuromuscular, and muscular diseases may also cause bilateral leg weakness.  

It may cause paralysis of both lower extremities and, generally, the lower trunk as a result of severe injuries to the back caused by accidents.

Beauchamp will spend three weeks at the Miot Hospital.
“I’m glad and happy that I will be going for further treatment in India. I keep my fingers crossed that tests will reveal the source of my paralysis. I have faith in God and I pray a lot everyday,” said Beauchamp to Sports Nation on Wednesday February 16 at the North East Point Hospital.

“At first, it was tough and I could not live with the fact that I could not walk. Then, I told myself: ‘you have to be strong. It’s not the end of the world and it’s no use thinking about what happened. You have to get your life together and think of how to regain full fitness and start walking again. I’ve known friends and other people who have died in accidents.

I believe thus that I’m lucky to be alive and I have to thank God,” 35-year-old Beauchamp added.

Father of two boys, the eldest being 11 years old and the youngest six years old, Beauchamp spent two months at the D’Offay Ward at Victoria Hospital before being transferred to the North East Point Hospital where he has been staying for the past five months.

“I will walk one day. Somebody who was once involved in an accident and was paralysed, told me that it took him seven years to walk again. I think positive and leave everything in the hands of our Father in Heaven,” said Beauchamp.

As part of his therapy, Beauchamp has to do physiotherapy twice daily and he believes that it has done him a lot of good.

“My condition has really improved. Apart from the sharp pain at times, I feel OK. Sportsman of the Year 1993 Beauchamp still holds the long jump record of 7.86 metres set in Mauritius on June 28, 1992 during the African Athletics Championship to win the bronze medal.

The former all-rounder, whose personal best in the high jump is 2.13 metres, represented Seychelles at the Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, in 1992.

Apart from winning Seychelles’ only track and field gold medal at the fifth IOIG in Reunion, Beauchamp grabbed a silver medal in the high jump and a bronze in the 4 x 100m relay.

G. G.