Back in the swing

Photo: Pictures: DARREN ROBINSON

PAR for the course . . . Harry is back playing golf thanks to his £16,000 contraption

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‘This has given me my life back’

GOLF fanatic Harry Green thought his life was over when an accident at work left him paralysed from the waist down.

But the 60-year-old, of Garden Suburb, is back on the greens at Werneth Golf Club thanks to a £16,000 contraption that is one of only three in the country.

The high-tech machine, which is made in Germany, allows Harry to drive himself round the course and lifts him to a standing position when he wants to take a shot.

He uses a pole to retrieve his balls but always plays with a partner as the machine can’t get into bunkers.

He said: “This contraption has given me my life back. I can get out of the house and meet friends who I used to play golf with before the accident. My form has dropped while I’ve been recovering but I’m getting my handicap back down again.”

Harry broke his spine in three places when he fell 10ft while working on a mezzanine floor at a shop in Wrexham in July, 2006.

He also broke all his ribs, fractured his skull and punctured his lungs.

Doctors said his chance of survival was minute and he spent eight weeks unconscious in intensive care before being transferred to a specialist recovery centre in Sheffield.

Wife Susan said: “I didn’t think Harry was going to make it and doctors said even if he did he would probably be unable to speak, suffer from memory loss and have a totally different personality.

“So when I realised he was going to be back to normal apart from his legs I was over the moon.”

When Harry was ready to come home the couple moved from a house to a bungalow and made a series of modifications to accommodate his wheelchair and tried to get on with their new lives.

But it wasn’t until a health worker recommended the Otto Bock Para Golfer that Harry’s life really got back to normal.

Harry added: “Susan even has me using it in the house so I can give her a hand with the gardening and DIY.”

Susan, who is also a member at Werneth Golf Club, added: “It may seem expensive but you can’t put a price on someone’s happiness.

“It is wonderful to see Harry happy again doing something he loves.”