Share and Follow
After being paralysed in a helicopter crash, Jay Stevens was told he would never walk again.
But the father-of-two from Sydney’s Northern Beaches wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Last month, Mr Stevens became the first paraplegic to walk to Mount Everest base camp without a wheelchair.
The 130-kilometre walk took 12 days of trekking across boulders, bridges and glaciers, day and night, in sub-zero temperatures.
“Day one was 13 or 14 hours finishing in the dark and after that it became apparent it was certainly a lot harder than I’d anticipated,” Stevens said.
“It was more just a deeper sense of accomplishment, I think I really enjoyed the process of getting there, the training, obviously what it took to get to that point
“Getting there was the icing on the cake.”
Stevens broke his ribs, hips and sternum and suffered a spinal cord injury in a helicopter crash at Uluru six years ago.
The flight was a gift from his work for being a top sales representative.
“Probably one of the scariest parts was laying down in the dirt, kind of not knowing if you were going to make it or not, and then you are thousands of miles away from your family,” he said.
His months in hospital watching documentaries made him more determined than ever to make the most of life.
“As I was starting to walk again, after about four years it slowly started becoming more of a reality,” he said.
The 38-year-old’s wife and kids knew that if anyone could achieve this it would be him.
After training for six hours a day, he set off in December.
It was the banter from mates along the way that made it all happen, he said.
“Those days were long, obviously wife and extended family were nervous about the trip, but I kind of needed to have to have a bit or tunnel vision,” he said.
His wife, Melissa, and children, Kai and Taine, couldn’t be prouder.
“I just knew he would do it, the courage, the determination, he’s very inspirational. I knew he would get to the very top,” Ms Stevens said.
His message is to set your sights firmly on what you want.
“Thinking outside the box but also having that unbreakable self belief, because if you don’t have it, no one else is going to do it for you,” Mr Stevens said.
