Steve Brown: from paralysis to captaining your country at the Paralympics

A remarkable evening lies ahead at Shoreham’s Ropetackle in the company of paralympian/Countryfile presenter Steve Brown (Wednesday, August 5, 8pm).

At the age of 23, Steve fell from a first-floor balcony while working in Germany. His spinal injury left him paralysed.

But after five months in hospital, he discovered wheelchair rugby where he excelled, going on to captain Great Britain at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. He has since become a familiar face on television, presenting Countryfile, Escape to the Country, Blue Planet UK and The One Show.

His story, which began before the injury, is one of determination, resilience, and purpose

“I do a lot of speaking,” he says. “It comes hand in hand with being a Paralympian and with all the TV work that I do. But people are interested and that's quite flattering. Never did I ever think that people would listen to something ‘poor old Steve Brown’ has got to say. There was no way I ever thought that people would be entertained by listening to me. I didn't grow up with that attitude at all.

“But I suppose the idea with the evening is just to slow things down a little bit. What I want to do is give people a little bit of honesty and a little bit of heartfelt truth but at the same time to keep it as upbeat as possible. It's not about a sob story. It's about my life and what happened to me but really it’s more a chance for reflection. It is about my highs and lows but I hope it will also help other people to think about their own highs and lows and how they cope with them.”

Steve's accident was 21 years ago: “Everyone says to me ‘Do you regret what happened?’ or people are asking me do I think I would have succeeded in the same way if I hadn't had the injury, if I hadn't fallen off that balcony.

“But to me that day isn't just about falling off the balcony. Every day we are making thousands and thousands decisions, and my being on the balcony that day was the result of millions and millions of decisions that had got me to that point. The balcony was just one thing. It was about wanting to go travelling, about whether I wanted to go out. Was it all about fate? Would I have just been injured in another way if I hadn't fallen off the balcony that day? The fact is it is just one moment.

“But it was hard. I'm the oldest of four brothers, and I've always been the big brother. That was my place. Whether it was advice or help, I was always the one that was being asked.”

And then suddenly everything changed.

“One of the biggest things that hit me was that at the time of the accident, two of my brothers were going through GCSEs back home and both my mum and dad were in Germany looking after me. My two brothers were having to get up and do GCSEs with no support. And then the next time my brothers saw me they were helping me to get dressed and helping me down the road. I think the biggest thing about the injury was the lack of identity. But I like to think I've got my big brother status back now!

“I have always been an outwardly positive person and I've always been somebody that makes an effort, and I think having my injury was just another thing that I had to make an effort for. For me the injury was not the end of anything. It was a reset. It was ‘I am in this situation now and I am going to get on with it.’ But it took me a while to get positive.

“One of the biggest things was that after I was injured, I didn't leave the hospital for five months. After my injury was healed, it was a question that now I had a disability. And I didn't want to go out in public. I didn't want people looking at me and wondering what had happened and why this man was being pushed around. I didn't want to go out. On beautiful days the hospital doors would open, and I would put my nose out the door and say no ‘I don't want to go out.’ I was just so embarrassed. I didn't want to go out and be looked at.”

But sport came to the rescue.

“Sport was always such a big thing with me that after my injury it was a no-brainer that sport would be the thing that would be my outlet. I went to see a wheelchair rugby game. I wanted to hide in the shadows and keep a low profile but then it dawned on me that everybody was there watching people in wheelchairs. And I thought why aren't these people nervous or scared or embarrassed. I could see that they weren't. They were just getting on with it. They were just doing what they wanted to do. And I just started thinking why am I scared, why am I nervous. That really affected me. And these people became my role models, not because of their disability but because of their attitude and because of their zest for life. I realised that that had to be a stepping stone for me, to try to become like these people.

“And when I became captain of my country, it wasn't about being captain. It was about being captain of these fantastic individuals who had taught me so much.”