Shropshire Star

Shropshire paralympian Mikey Hall has recovery in his sights

A paralympian is setting his sights on Tokyo 2020 after battling a life-threatening illness.

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Mikey Hall

Archer Mikey Hall, has been in hospital for more than two months and is facing several more weeks before he can be discharged.

He admits that he has had low moments since he was placed in an induced coma after he was rushed into hospital at the end of June.

However he says he is now aiming to compete in the Paralympic Games in three years time and is already using the gym at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

Mikey, from St Martins near Oswestry, represented his country at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games where he picked up a gold medal.

But just days before he was due to compete in a competition in the Czech Republic he was rushed into hospital for emergency surgery.

After the operation on June 30 he suffered with septicaemia and was recently placed in an induced coma and was on life support.

But he is now recovering well. “Sometime I wonder ‘why me’ – again,” he said.

“But I have to look to the future. I have had so much support and messages from people. Lots of people have dropped in to see me including my coach and team-mates. The nurses and staff at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital are amazing.

“I have lost such a lot of muscle mass since being in hospital and it is great to be back in the gym, even though I can’t do as much as I want to at the moment.

"My aim is to be back in training in January.”

The ex-serviceman joined the army in 1995, serving in the 1st The Queen’s Dragoons Guard.

In 2000 he was left paralysed after an accident during a training exercise, where he fell off a rope bridge and broke his neck in two places and fractured his spine.

He joined the Help for Heroes Sports Recovery Programme and excelled in archery.

As well as the Paralympics, Mikey has competed in Prince Harry’s inaugural Invictus Games in 2014, and the World Para Archery Championships and Para Continental Championships.