He needed 72 operations after an accident, but this Paralympic athlete says that “body and mind are stronger than they imagine”

(CNN) – Diederick Schelfhout was driving home on his motorcycle after training, when everything changed in an instant.

The Belgian cyclist had signed his professional contract several months earlier, with the aim of becoming a professional racer.

It was a goal he had pursued since he was eight years old, growing up listening to the stories of his father, who had also run professionally.

But after Schelfhout crashed into a car and then another parked car, his motorcycle’s fuel tank exploded, as did the vehicle’s. He was caught between two explosions and says it took firefighters 14 attempts to put out the fire.

It was then that he knew that the career he once dreamed of was indeed over.

“I only had one feeling, and it was to survive,” Schelfhout tells CNN Sport about the 2008 accident. “The pain I felt was no longer human.”

The consequences

Schelfhout suffered multiple injuries and 80% of his body was burned, including his lungs.

“I had broken bones, my arm was in pieces, my leg, my hands. It was terrible,” he says.

He spent almost three months in a coma, one so severe that they thought about unplugging him, but as he says: “My heart was strong.”

When Schelfhout finally woke up, he discovered that the left side of his body had been paralyzed from the accident.

When doctors placed a mirror on his face, he was able to see the physical scars he had suffered.

“I took a mirror and they said, ‘Look, this is how you look now and this is how you are going to live.

As he recalls, his reaction to his new face was “the first mental breakdown.”

“I didn’t think about cycling in the first few weeks. I just needed to get stronger,” he says. “What mattered most to me was learning, walking again, writing and speaking.”

His friends and family offered him invaluable moral support, something he continues to appreciate 13 years later.

“For my parents it was a very unpleasant moment,” he says, “I am lucky because my parents support me very much and very well in everything I do.”

“I have many friends who support me […] I can say that I am a lucky guy. With friends like that and with family. “

Fighting to stay in the race

Medical experts ended up telling Schelfhout that he had to put his cycling dream aside, due to extensive nerve damage in his left leg and hip.

He says he decided to try pedaling that same day to see what his body was capable of. “The first 20 meters were the most terrible in my life. Everything hurt, and it was like a six-year-old trying to ride a bicycle.”

“The doctors also told me that full recovery was not possible.”

“He had a girlfriend. She didn’t like cycling. […] And he said, ‘You have to drop everything.’ I said, ‘No, I want to finish what I started, and I stop riding my bike when I want to, not when someone tells me I have to stop.’

In the months between coma and rehabilitation, Schelfhout persisted, using a handbike – a manual tricycle used by people with reduced mobility – to improve his superior mobility. After two weeks, he says he had a glimmer of hope when he noticed “a strange sensation” in his biceps. Fifteen days later, he had a muscle contraction.

Just a year after his accident, Schelfhout was riding his bike to and from the hospital.

“I went straight to the doctor’s room and said, ‘Look, I’ve gotten back on the bike and I’m going to get stronger and stronger and go back to racing. I don’t know when, but I have a feeling it’s possible,” he says.

“He told me that it is my mind that is so strong. If I want something, I will do anything for it.”

A bump in the road

In 2011, Schelfhout’s fortunes changed when he read a magazine article about Kris Bosmans, a Belgian paracyclist who had started racing after suffering a stroke. Inspired by his story, he decided to approach Bosmans.

“At the time, I didn’t think about para-cycling because in Belgium it’s not such a famous sport,” says Schelfhout.

However, after learning about Bosmans’s story, he began to see para-cycling as a way to compete.

Determined to return to racing, he contacted the International Cycling Union (UCI) -the body that governs this sport- and, to be physically prepared to compete, shed more than 40 kilos in three months.

His last year of racing had been in 2007, so Schelfhout says he was excited about his first para-cycling event in 2012 in Rome. “The feeling was nice to get back on the bike to compete.”

Although the race did not go as planned.

Paralympic athletes using a standard bicycle participate in five sport categories – C1 to C5 – where the lower numbers represent a more acute limitation in the lower and / or upper extremities.

Schelfhout, who had been placed in the C4 category before the race, says he was told before competing that he should actually have participated in the C3 category.

In his early racing years as a paracyclist, Schelfhout says the hardest aspect of training and racing was having to reconcile the idea that his body would never be as strong as it was before the accident.

“The first year in para-cycling was terrible because I was always comparing what it was like before the accident and after.”

“For me, the main problem is the nerve problem I have on the left side of my body. My left leg only has a quarter of power compared to the right side, and my arm has a seventh of power.

“My back on the left side is partially paralyzed. I have less power to accelerate. There are athletes who before their accident did not run, and they do not know the possibilities of their body. I know what I could do before and wanted to do the same.”

Chasing a Paralympic dream

Since then, Schelfhout has been able to regain his confidence by focusing on the mental and physical advantage he can have over his teammates. For example, he says that the right side of his body is stronger than that of non-disabled athletes.

“When I’m racing, there’s like a button in my head – and definitely in big races – that tells me to just keep going, to fly and see what I can accomplish.”

In 2016, Schelfhout experienced another setback when he had an accident, breaking his collarbone and hip.

Subsequently, he was seen out of Belgium’s first team for the Paralympic Games in Rio.

“After a few weeks, I got back on the bike, but I was not in good condition to compete.”

After four years of working towards the Paralympic dream, he decided to take a break. But two weeks before the Rio Games, he received a call from the federation, saying that a place had been opened for his selection.

“He was not in good shape for the Games,” he says. “Normally, on the track, if I go out, I’m always competing for the podium. Now, I had to do the tenth or eighth place. In Rio, I made the tenth place. I was not happy with it.”

“Mentally it was a bit sad, but it made me stronger.”

When the coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020, Schelfhout says that while disappointed, he found it necessary to prioritize safety over competition.

“It is (…) better to save our families and friends from the pandemic. It was only one year and one year does not make you worse or better. When you are at the highest level, you can come back the next year.”

Now, he hopes to reappear at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games -which begin on August 24, 2021-, where he will compete in four events, including the individual pursuit on the 3 km track, the time trial on the 1 km track and the time trial. and route.

After all, Schelfhout is looking forward to representing Belgium at the Olympics. “For me it is a beautiful feeling, it is a golden feeling because not everyone can say they can do it. I love my country and I love showing the people of Belgium a great cycling campaign.”

The power of visibility

In retrospect, Schelfhout says that mental toughness has led to the most difficult times of his career.

“Mentally […] I have a motto, and it’s’ it’s not about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.

“I want to get stronger,” he says. “It’s not about how you look, it’s about how you feel and what you want to achieve and become.”

The best aspect of competing as a Paralympic athlete? Schelfhout says it’s finding strength in community.

“I think that’s the good thing about para sports, everyone is friends with others because they know how hard life is.”

Since hitting the world stage, he has dedicated his platform to increasing the visibility of burn victims in sport.

“I want to show the people of the world that even if you have a very unpleasant accident, […] you have to get on with your life. I want to motivate people to go back to playing sports, to live again as before, “he says.

“I have a lot of scars on my body. Everywhere I go, people look at me because a lot of people in Belgium don’t know what people with burn marks are like. I want to show them that I don’t care.”

“I want to show that I am Diederick and that I fight for my life, but that I still enjoy it.”

‘I am strong enough’

Schelfhout says that he would not have been able to fulfill his childhood dream of being a world-class cyclist had it not been for his close network of friends and family.

“The people who support me, the federation, it is really necessary to have good people around you to achieve something good in your life,” he says. “I am very grateful to have that, it is very important.”

“Everyone around me is really proud of me, but I’m also proud of myself because I have shown the world that I am strong enough to be a cyclist again. I want to show the world that it is possible.”

Competing as a para-athlete has given Schelfhout a new sense of respect and gratitude for his body. “I have learned that your body and your mind are stronger than you can imagine.”

“Before my accident, I always wanted to win. I have the same feeling. But the big difference is that when I have a place in the top ten, I am also happy. I want to do better. It’s not about saying, ‘Okay, I’m happy.’ No, but I can understand it and live with it.

“I don’t need anything but my bike, my girlfriend and my dogs to be happy.”

From living a terrifying accident to undergoing 72 operations, it’s fair to say that Schelfhout has suffered more blows than many in his life.

But if there’s one thing his trip from Belgium to Japan has shown, it’s that the power to stand up, fight back, and maintain self-confidence – especially when the odds are against you – will always trump a streak of bad luck.

“When something goes wrong, you have to fight for it.”