Simon should not be alive today.
While cycling to work in September 2022, he was dragged underneath a twenty-five-ton lorry and was left lifeless on the street.
The fact that he survived is down to an incredible sequence of events that meant the right people were in exactly the right place, at the right time. As a result, Simon received seven and a half minutes of crucial CPR before being put into a coma on the roadside and taken to hospital for emergency surgery. Simon is alive today because of the actions of the police officer who gave him CPR and the speed with which the London Air Ambulance arrived.
While those lifesaving efforts spared his life, the accident left Simon with life-changing physical injuries. His arm was amputated on the day of the accident, along with two fingers from the remaining hand. Although Simon’s leg was initially saved, the bones in his foot became infected and Simon chose to have a below-knee amputation in January 2025.
Simon also sustained a brain injury, partially lost his sight, and his ribs were so badly damaged that they were fixed with titanium.
The luckiest person alive
Simon considers himself the luckiest person alive. Rather than focusing on what was taken, he highlights the extraordinary support that helped him rebuild his life – from developing strategies to navigate his brain injury, to receiving prosthetic care that allows him to do the things he took for granted before, including:
Running with his wife and children
Cycling in cyclocross races
Relearning to play the trumpet
Finding a new purpose
Before the accident, Simon was a secondary school headteacher. It was a job he loved. It wasn’t possible for Simon to continue after the accident, and he felt lost because he no longer had a purpose. Like many victims of catastrophic trauma, he considered taking his own life.
It was with the support of his wife, children, wider family, friends and a range of rehabilitation specialists that Simon was able to build a new life for himself. But his journey to become a Lived Experience Speaker has only been possible due to the support of the charity Stride Forward. Stride Forward provide mentors to help those with life-changing injuries embrace a new life.
Simon is an advocate of Stride Forward.
Hear Simon tell his story
Simon speaks at workshops, conferences and events about survival, recovery and living with an invisible injury.