Stroke patient enjoys extreme sport

Thursday 1st October 2009, 6:59PM BST.

A 90-year-old Shropshire war veteran has proved there is life after a stroke by fighting back from illness to enjoy his favourite extreme sport on holiday on a Spanish island.

Former gamekeeper John Hopkinson, of Bayston Hill, near Shrewsbury, had his world turned upside down after suffering a stroke on his 78th birthday. He lost much of his speech and mobility following the illness but with the support of his family he is now able to look after himself and is not letting anything get in the way of him enjoying his adrenaline-fuelled pastime of parascending.

The widower has just returned from Tenerife where he took part in his favourite hobby which involves being lifted high into the air by a parachute towed behind a speedboat.

He has also tried hot air ballooning and touring the island by helicopter since suffering the stroke. Mr Hopkinson said: “I’m not afraid of dying – only of missing something.”

The grandfather-of-four was born in Yorkshire and joined the RAF as an engineer in 1936, serving at Ringway Airfield, Manchester, during the Second World War.

In 1941 he was sent out to India and Burma with the Chindits, serving deep behind Japanese enemy lines. He worked as an engineer in civilian life before becoming a gamekeeper.

View more: Bayston Hill news, Shrewsbury news.