He eventually has overcome a lot of rejection and people’s prejudices to become a tradesman, a job he loves and enjoys doing. Speaking to Clive Holland on the Clive Holland Show, he explained exactly what happened and the importance of having a positive mindset:

“I spent 15 years in the military, and then, on August 1, 2007, my life changed. I was training for Britain's Strongest Man - so I was like a man mountain. Then, a forklift driver, talking on his mobile phone, dropped a fully loaded pallet on to my lower back.

“My world ended that day. But, when I got the correct care plan in place, correct motivational team in place. They turned around and reprogram my mind to a positive way of things inside lifestyles and life goes on a different journey.”

His journey had only just begun in his eyes though, and as soon as he began to recover and was able to get back out there – he decided, against all the odds, to launch a career in the trades, he carried on to Clive about just how hard it was to get there and the struggles he faced…

“I went to 45 different colleges around the UK was not accepted because I'm in a wheelchair. My 46^th colleague said ‘You prove out you can do it, we will accept it.’ I did it and got a distinction. I went on and did my Level Two at that college – and then applied to Ideal industries, the competition in the USA.

“Out of all the applicants out there I came forth. I got respected by every single individual, including the hierarchy of Ideal, and all the other competitors said, ‘You proved us wrong, we presumed you only came here to make the numbers up’. I said ‘I won't make the numbers up. I came here to demonstrate how good I am during the job. ‘”

He also called for change in the industry – saying that no one should be discriminated against and instead, everyone in the trades should simply just respect each other.

“I believe the industry does need improving. If anyone reaches and surpasses the industry standard, they should be left alone, they should not be harassed in any way, shape or form, whether it's in gender, sexuality, religion, or anything.

If you reach and surpass industry standard leave that individual alone. Respect costs nothing in this industry - and people give me more admiration for doing that, instead of being negative.”

He ended the chat with Clive by speaking about how the importance of changing your mindset and being strong mentally helped him regain his focus on push on to achieve what he has.

“The biggest thing I always had in my mind, being ex-military, [was] - why did this happen to me? Until I had the correct team in place, that refocused my way of thinking and refocused my mind to say, instead of saying, why me, why not? What can I achieve? And that's where my family, my people around me, my psychology counselors, everybody turned around and reprogrammed my way of thinking.

“They told me I should prove everyone wrong, and it’s not about what you can’t do, but what you can do. I was always saying I might have a disability, but I'm not a liability. Prove everyone wrong, and carry on singing the song, right? No matter how bad it gets in life, you can always progress forward. There's always light at the end of the tunnel.”

You can catch the Clive Holland Show Monday through Thursday every week between 2 – 4pm. Can’t wait that long? Catch his weekly podcast down below.

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