How Ed Jackson went from a spinal cord injury to mountaineering

In 2017, professional rugby player Ed Jackson was told that he would probably never walk again after breaking his neck. Today, the 35-year-old is a mountain climber, although he is permanently disabled after the accident.

The meaning Jackson and his wife, Lois, found in helping others after his own life-changing injuries struck is the subject of a new documentary called “The Mountain Within Me,” which tells the story of his accident and recovery.

Exactly one year after the accident, he climbed Yr Wyddfa, Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales. The film also shows him climbing the Himalayas in Nepal and Aiguille Dibona, a 3,100-metre peak in the French Alps.

But Jackson tells BBC News that he hopes the film will not be perceived as what he calls “a hero's journey.”

“I was absolutely thrilled when I was asked if I wanted to make a film. But I was also concerned about revealing our lives and those of the people we care about. There had to be some meaning behind it,” he explains.

“And I hope the film shows that it's not just a case of 'this happens, he gets through it and then climbs mountains'. It's an ongoing journey, the things I have to live with day to day, but overcoming challenges, going through hard things, surviving them, that's what gives life character, I think.”

The film was directed by filmmaker and life coach Polly Steele, who was also responsible for the 1997 documentary “Tantrums and Tiaras” by David Furnish and Sir Elton John.

“I'm not a mountaineer or a rugby fan, and when I was first asked if I wanted to do this, I thought, 'What am I doing here?'” she explains. “But I was told, 'No, this is a mental health story and it needs someone who understands that.'”

In the film, Jackson speaks openly about how he has had problems with bowel, bladder and sexual function since the accident he had in 2017 when he jumped into a pool that was too shallow. He now suffers from Brown-Sequard syndrome, a neurological condition that causes weakness or paralysis on one side of the body and loss of feeling on the other. He walks with a limp.

“But what affects me most in everyday life is bladder function, bowel function, and sexual and fertility problems,” he says.

“If you get a group of people with disabilities together, particularly with spinal cord injuries, they're not going to talk about the way they move. They're all going to talk about pee, poop and sex, because that's what really affects them on a day-to-day basis.

He continues: “I always have to wear a catheter bag when I'm out and about. I've wet myself more times than I can remember, but that's part of living with a spinal cord injury.

“I'm very grateful for my recovery, even though I still live with a disability as an incomplete quadriplegic. But it was very important to me to talk about it in the film because a lot of these topics aren't talked about enough. I just want to normalize it more.”

Jackson adds that one of his other big motivations is to reshape the conversation about masculinity and the mindsets of young people suffering from anxiety.

“I've had my worries, fears and vulnerabilities all my life, but on the outside it would have seemed as if Ed was a tough rugby player and never worried about anything. But no, Ed was a tough rugby player who just didn't talk about the things that worried him,” he recalls.

“Now I talk about the things that worry me and that's the bravest thing I can do. It's not less manly to say that I'm struggling or suffering, I think it's the opposite. It would be less manly not to talk about it.

“This is the new framework I want to create for young people and young men who have problems. Everyone has problems, everyone has fears, everyone has worries and that shouldn't depend on how male you are.”

Photos, television and telephone recordings show Ed Jackson playing rugby with his then girlfriend Lois in the days before his accident and immediately afterwards in the hospital.

A week after his accident, he was told that his injuries would likely mean he would never walk again, and 36 hours later he was flicking his toe.

“I was as surprised as everyone else,” he says. “Even though I tried to do it.”

At the time of his medical diagnosis, he said he was still in spinal shock.

“The toe snap showed that there was a connection beyond my injury site, and I'm very lucky because if I had had a complete spinal cord injury, no matter how hard I tried, I wouldn't have recovered any further,” he explains.

“And people with more severe disabilities than me lead amazing, purposeful lives, so that wouldn't have meant life was over. At the time, I wanted to move because I just felt like I didn't want to spend the rest of my life thinking, 'What if I had just tried?'”

He now applies this attitude, which he discovered during his recovery process, to the charitable foundation he founded with his wife, which offers outdoor adventures for people who have suffered physical injuries and trauma.

Director Steele says she found working with the couple “inspiring and incredibly positive.”

“It's not something you can just dismiss. When you meet them, you think there must be something dark here. And it's not that they don't admit there's a dark side, they just don't dwell on it. And if I've learned anything, it's that you have to make a choice about where you direct your thoughts.”

Because of his condition, his life expectancy may be shorter. While Jackson acknowledges this, he says, “I don't really think about it much.

“I know that my life expectancy could be shorter or that getting older will be harder for me. You deteriorate much faster,” he continues.

“I know this is coming, and I know the quality of life changes, and I'm well aware that I have to live my life as long as I can, as long as I have a good quality of life. But at the same time, I know as well as anyone how quickly medicine changes and advances are made. I don't want to question that. I just try to take each day as it comes.”

Jackson’s next project will be Member of the presenting team for Channel 4's comprehensive coverage of the Paralympic Games from Paris.

After that, he hopes to climb Mount Kenya in 2025. For him, there is a connection between physical mountain climbing and his own mental attitude.

“When you're standing on a mountainside and it's minus 20 degrees, everything hurts and you're really tired, you often think: 'What am I doing? Why am I doing this again? Why do I keep doing this to myself?'” he says.

“But when you're done, you've always been in this place that you can only get to if you put in the effort, and that changed me emotionally. But without giving too much away about the film, it's great that the journey didn't always go according to plan.

He concludes: “It's not about standing on the summit and saying, 'Wow, look at us.' We celebrated more than that – the power of being outdoors, Mother Nature, respect, surviving something and how important and powerful that can be for your life.”

The Mountain Within Me will be released in UK cinemas on Friday 23 August.