FILE – In this July 13, 2018, file photo, Robert Wickens talks after the second practice session for the Toronto Indy IndyCar auto race in Toronto. Wickens is paralyzed from the waist down from injuries suffered in an August crash at Pocono Raceway. Wickens has been updating his rehabilitation progress on social media and posted a video Thursday of his “first slide transfer as a paraplegic” that showed him moving from a table to his wheelchair. His videos had shown for the past month that he is working daily to move his legs again, but his Thursday, Oct. 25, 2018, post was the first time he publicly confirmed paralysis. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
IndyCar driver Robert Wickens is paralyzed from the chest down from injuries suffered in an August crash at Pocono Raceway.
The 29-year-old Wickens has been updating his rehabilitation progress on social media and posted a video Thursday of his “first slide transfer as a paraplegic” that showed him moving from a table to his wheelchair. His videos had shown for the past month that he is working daily to move his legs again, but Thursday’s post was the first time he publicly confirmed his paralysis.
“I’ve only been posting videos of the small movement in my legs, but the reality is I am far away from walking on my own,” Wickens wrote. “Some people are a bit confused with the severity of my injury, so I wanted let you know the reality of it. I’ve never worked harder for anything in my life, and I am giving it all I’ve got to spark those nerves in my legs.”
Wickens recently left an Indianapolis rehabilitation facility for one in Colorado.
“Two people with the same injury may heal differently,” Wickens tweeted Friday night. “One may walk again and one may not. Each body heals differently. So we can not tell you a definitive answer if I will walk again. But I have full intentions of doing just that!
“The good news is, I already have most feeling and some movement in my legs, so there is hope over the course of 24 months that I may regain enough movement to walk again! So far the signs are promising, but I’m trying not to get ahead of myself! I am just keeping my head down and working until my therapist and doctors tell me to stop.”
The Canadian crashed at Pocono on Aug. 19 and suffered a thoracic spinal fracture, spinal cord injury, neck fracture, tibia and fibula fractures to both legs, fractures in both hands, fractured right forearm, fractured elbow, four fractured ribs and a pulmonary contusion. Earlier Thursday, three-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart told The Associated Press he is reconsidering a return to the Indianapolis 500 because of Wickens’ crash.
A video earlier this week showed Wickens successfully moving each leg slightly and he declared he’d be dancing in no time. He is scheduled to be married next September and fiance Karli Woods also posts regular videos to her Instagram stories of Wickens’ rehabilitation.
“He sure as hell is showing amazing results so far, and he’s working hard as possible,” Woods posted Friday.