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21st Sep 2015

Paralysed man rediscovers FIFA thanks to specially-designed chair

JOE

Even performing everyday tasks can be a challenge for Will Clark.

After being thrown from his bike when competing in a triathlon, he became paralysed from the neck down.

“I used to be such an active person and had to go back to square one, it was very frustrating,” the 30-year-old explains in an interview with The Telegraph.

“After the accident, I had to let other people do things for me that I would have done without even thinking about it,” he adds.

And while Will admits that his spinal injury has deprived him of doing many of the things he loved to do before his accident, a specially designed chair has allowed him to start using his PlayStation again.

playstation

“I used to love cooking and had to let someone else do all my meals for me. There were things that I never thought that I would be able to do again – getting back to play on the PlayStation was one of them,” Will says.

Using the limited motions that he has, Will, from Grasmere in Cumbria, is able to play a number of games on his PlayStation – even taking on friends at FIFA, and work on his chair continues so he will one day be able to play even more complicated games.

“At the moment I am really into Fifa. I have a special controller which I can operate – I use my chin to move one of the joysticks and can press the buttons with special pads I hit with my shoulders,” he adds.

“Fortunately I can play the likes of Fifa and driving games as they have two button modes. But I hear that the PlayStation 4 has the potential for voice commands which would mean that I could play games like Call of Duty.”

Will is now preparing for a 100-mile cycle which he hopes to complete on a battery-operated Boma bike steered by a chin-operated controller. Any finds raised will be donated to the Great North Air Ambulance Service, after they helped treat him at the site of his accident.

To donate to Will’s fundraising cause, please click on the link below:

www.createanddonate.co.uk/to/going-the-distance/£.Ve7GOhFVhBe