Lying alone all day in a hospital bed after becoming paralysed in a horrific motorbike crash would break most people.

But somehow Louis Pilcher, from Tovil near Maidstone, is showing incredible strength and positivity in the face of losing the use of his legs after waking up from a two-week coma.

The plucky 19-year-old's story began on Tuesday, May 21 when, after a difficult morning at work he went to unwind at Blue Bell Hill Picnic Site during his lunch break.

Realising he needed to get back, refurbishing computers for Digital Pipeline, an Aylesford charity which sends the machines to Africa, he hopped on his beloved Yamaha MT-07.

Just minutes later, after hitting a patch of gravel going round a bend, he lost control of the bike - leaving the carriageway and being thrown though the air.

The former New Line Learning Academy pupil found himself lying on the ground by the side of the road.

Disoriented but in no pain he tried to pick himself up but couldn't.

Helpless, he screamed out for help as he heard cars rush past on the busy road on Blue Bell Hill.

Finally, a woman in a passing transport ambulance came to his aid.

Paramedics and an air ambulance rushed to the scene. With blood filling up his lungs and clotting Louis could hardly breathe or talk and didn't have much time.

Crews drained his lungs and flew him to King's College Hospital after putting him into a coma.

"I started leaning into the corner and took it a bit too sharply and came out wide," he remembered.

"You get a bit scared and fixate on one point and it's hard to carry on thinking of other things except that you're going to crash.

"I went onto a grass bank, my bike and bars wobbled, I did a sharp left because I was heading towards trees, I crossed over a carriageway - not in control, and somehow I managed to ride up a cliff while my bike was smashing to bits.

"I landed face down and remembered being on a concrete slab and couldn't see round me with my helmet.

"All I could see was the ground and a bit out of the corner of my eye. I landed with both hands trapped under my chest.

"I got my bearings and tried to pull my hands out and get up normally.

"I went to push up and realised I couldn't get up and didn't have the power.

"I thought the bike must be on top of me so I tried to reach behind me to feel the bike but couldn't.

"I tried to extent my legs backward but didn't realise I couldn't move my legs so just thought the bike wasn't there."

The last thing he remembers is being scooped onto a stretcher at the roadside.

He woke up two weeks later after undergoing a spinal operation.

The crash has broken four vertebrae in his neck and back - one of which splintered into his spinal cord leaving him with no feeling below the chest.

He also suffered a stroke which has affected his peripheral vision and co-ordination.

Now he waits at Maidstone Hospital, with the patience of a saint, to be transferred to the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire for specialist care and physiotherapy to prepare him for life in a wheelchair.

He could be able to go any day but is waiting for a bed to become free.

For eight weeks his dad sat by his side. Although he has now had to return to work Louis still sees him daily and gets regular visits from friends and family.

So far, he's shown incredible courage and keeps a smile on his face.

"A lot of people become depressed and give up but I've always had a strong mind and known what I need to do," he said.

"If I've got a problem I focus and deal with that problem - I don't let things get on top of me.

"I still have loads to learn and I need to get stronger and move myself properly on my own but I've taken it on the chin.

"I've done this to myself and I need to move on and carry on with new things.

"I need to learn about what's happened, take the best from it, and move on.

"Instead of just sitting here in the hospital bed looking at the same four walls I need to be happy.

"I make a lot of jokes and I take the pee out of this and what's happened to me. It makes me laugh and it makes other people laugh."

While he may never get the feeling in his legs back he is staying hopeful - twitching in his toes tells him the nerves are still active - but he says he is prepared for a life in a wheelchair.

"It might be that every day it gets a little bit better as the swelling in my spine goes down.

"Obviously everyone would like to be up and about but if it doesn't happen you have to keep going and not worry about what's happened in the past.

"I know everyone is going to help me. I support them by getting better and they see the improvement in me everyday and they see me happy and it makes me happy.

"Everyone is happy and it's brilliant."

Surprisingly, Louis says if he can walk again he will be getting straight back on the bike.

"It was my passion. I loved that bike and I'm so sad that I smashed it up. every day it was nice or not raining I would be out on the bike.

"I've been everywhere on it, I did more than 2,000 miles on it since I bought it in March.

"I was planning trip to Scotland in August before this happened.

Louis' loved-one has rallied around him at this difficult time and have raised hundreds of pounds through GoFundMe to help his dad with alterations and equipment for their flat so they can both still live there.

A lot remains uncertain for Louis - when he will be transferred, when and even if he will return home to his dad's second storey flat, or if he will ever walk again - but what he does know is that he'll head into it with a smile on his face.

If you want to donate to help Louis click here

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