Mike Lee, Chessington, Surrey: I am 38 years old and broke my back in an accident about 18 months ago, and unfortunately damaged my spinal cord, which made me a paraplegic.I was very active before my accident, and spent most of my life in the gym, and kept myself very fit. I was a member of the David Lloyd Centre in Raynes Park, Surrey for 12 years and also played semi-pro football.I always used your rowers as I found them a very good all round exercise, and I managed the 2,000m row in 7:10, which I thought wasn't too bad.My original prognosis was that I would never walk, but I couldn't really accept that with the lifestyle I led.After spending about eight months in hospital, of which four where in Stoke Mandeville, I was discharged and returned to my home in Surrey. I had managed to walk very short distances with crutches with the use of ankle splints when I left hospital. I was attending physio three times a week, and started to use the physio gym to see what I could do.After looking on the Internet in May last year, and finding out I could hire the Indoor Rower, I decided to see if this could aid my recovery, due to muscle wastage in my legs and lack of stamina. It was a real strain at first, even to get on and off the machine, and I only managed to row a few minutes. This started to improve slowly, as I used to row every day, and try and improve my distance. In August, I was making so good progress, I decided to buy the machine outright with the help of friends who raised some money.I have now increased my rowing to 5,000m, which takes me about 25 minutes, and my best time for 2,000m is 9:10. Although I walk with crutches, I can walk much further, and my whole body has started to fill out. I know that I will never be able to run the marathon, but I will not give up. I know that there are a lot of people in the same situation as me who would benefit from the Concept 2 if they were made aware of it. I was lucky that I knew how the body worked, and had used all this type of equipment before my injury.