29
Jan
Paralysed Ripon teenager ready to ‘spread his wings’
This story is free to read. For access to all our content, please subscribe. We rely on subscriptions to keep providing news that matters. Click here to get started.
A teenager from Ripon who was paralysed following a fall from a bedroom pull-up bar says he has moved on from the accident that crushed his spinal cord and hopes some day to fly.
Just four months on from the accident, Ripon Grammar School student Alan Nowicki took his GCSEs and excelled, achieving 10 passes ranging from grade 9 to 4 — the equivalent of six A*–A grades, alongside a handful of Bs and Cs.
This summer, he will sit A-levels in maths, physics and chemistry and hopes to build on these already impressive results.
If all goes to plan, Alan will go on to study aerospace engineering at university with the goal of designing an aircraft one day.
Alan says:
I never thought that things would be as good as they are. I have come to terms with everything. I am not mad or angry or anything – I have accepted it and moved on.
Alan Nowicki passes his driving test
Alan, now 17, has already passed his driving test and is able to drive his specially adapted car to school every day.
As well as his driving licence, Alan, who dreamed of being an RAF pilot from a young age, is taking lessons at the Yorkshire Gliding Club to earn his gliding licence.
When talking about his experience gliding, Alan says:
It is difficult to describe – it is like being in a plane, but peaceful. I have full control of the stick and the brakes, but the instructor has to control the rudder because it is operated by pedal.
Alan’s recovery
Alan Nowicki in the hospital after his accident
After his initial stay in hospital, Alan’s mother Kamila launched a £20,000 fundraising campaign to fly her son to Poland for intensive therapy at Donum Corde rehabilitation centre, after being quoted more than £10,000 a week for treatment in the UK.
The Ripon campaign reached its £20,000 target within a week, allowing Alan to travel to Poland, their home country, with additional funds used to purchase essential physiotherapy equipment and a wheelchair.
Alan also required stem cell therapy, a treatment not offered by the NHS. A further appeal was later launched to help cover the cost of stem cell treatment in Thailand.
The treatment cost £95,000 in total and fundraising covered half of the amount, including flights and related expenses. Alan’s family took out a loan to cover the remainder.
Kamila says:
I like to think that every parent would do the same for their kid. If something happens, you search high and low and try everything to help them to get better.
I never thought we would be here in this place, everything was just daunting, very negative and we just tried to keep our heads above the water and not drown.
Now, two years on from the accident, Alan is no longer in any pain, but he still has to complete three hours of physiotherapy, six days a week.
Kamila adds:
To us, progress is him being healthy, fit, independent, doing his schoolwork, meeting his friends and going to the gym.
He’ll go out there into the world and spread his wings, get that gliding licence, get that degree under his belt, and go out there, do what he wants to do and be healthy, independent and pain-free.
0