One year on from a horrific injury that could change anyone’s life, Captain Javed Johl is taking on a charity fitness challenge in which he will donate the money raised to the London Air Ambulance.
During April 2017 Captain Johl – pictured above – was critically injured while riding his motorcycle near Heathrow when he came off his bike and was run over by a lorry.
Still conscious and stuck on the road, he instructed those who had come to his aid to call 999 and work out how the ambulance was going to reach him.
He said: “From the army, I knew a few things about how to deal with evacuations.”
The collision left him incapacitated on the side of the road with what would later be determined as three fractures in his pelvis, a dislocated thumb and several fractured vertebrae in his back.
XRAY: despite Captain’s Johl’s injuries he returned to work four weeks after the accident
Captain Johl, an instructor at the Sandhurst Royal Military Academy and a former combat medic, was given ketamine to help ease the agonising pain and taken to the Royal London Hospital by the London Air Ambulance.
Amazingly, he returned to work four weeks later in a wheelchair and continued his rehabilitation.
He said: “If it wasn’t for London’s Air Ambulance, my recovery probably wouldn’t have been as good or as quick as it has been.”
Describing himself as a very ‘active person’ before his injury, Captain Johl has since enrolled in a charity event in which he will do “2 minutes of sit ups, 2 minutes of press ups and a 1.5 mile run” however this will be done 24 times in 24 hours.
He said: “I’ve got to get back to a good state so I can work back to the fitness I had before the accident.
“I was inspired to do the challenge as it’s a year since I got out of my wheelchair. I was a very active person beforehand and had previously run the London Marathon. For me, it’s a bit of a milestone to say I’ve come to the end of my rehabilitation. I’ve got back to a good state so I can work back to the fitness I had before the accident.”
Captain Javed Johl is looking to raise money for the charity that saved him and that treats on average five people a day in London, costing around £10 million a year to run. He will be taking part in the event from Monday 6th August to Tuesday 11th August.
To donate, visit justgiving.com/fundraising/javed-johl-2
