A lawyer who lost the use of both legs and one arm after being hit by a car has completed 10km of swimming in a single month.

Justen Bersin-Taylor spent 10 months in hospital and lost almost a third of his body weight after the collision whilst he was cycling in January 2023.

But after coming out of hospital and moving into a wheelchair-adapted flat, he resolved not to let the extent of his injuries stop him.

Using the equipment installed at the London Aquatics Centre in Stratford, such as the PoolPod lifts, he completed 500m at a time during January before finishing his challenge with a non-stop kilometre. 

Justen Bersin-Taylor and his wife Sandrine at the London Aquatic Centre

Justen and his wife Sandrine at the London Aquatic Centre

‘I actually swam 1.2km as my goggles had fogged up and I had my headphones in so I didn’t know my wife and coach were telling me I could stop,’ said Justen.

‘Nobody stopped me so I guessed I had to keep going. They thought I was being stubborn and trying to swim as far as possible – eventually I had to call out and check it was ok to stop.’

Swimming any distance with one working arm is a challenge, and practice involved plenty of trial and error.

‘There was a lot of hitting my head on the side of the pool and changing my swimming style before I could go in a straight line,’ he says. ‘My body is in a diagonal position when I swim – it must look weird to anybody watching but I just about manage to go in the right direction.’

Justen Bersin-Taylor was discharged from hospital after 10 months

Justen was discharged from hospital after 10 months

Justen, who was born in South Africa, worked as a legal counsel at BNY Mellon when he suffered his injury.

A fitness oriented fellow with a self-confessed dark sense of humour, he joked on an Instagram post that he had ‘put the phrase “moderately difficult to injure” to the test’.

But the reality was that he faced months of painful rehabilitation just to get back some functionality in one arm. Painstaking work on his other arm has brought back a little movement (‘I could only wiggle my fingers a little but I reckon I have one and a quarter working arms now’) but he concedes there will be a point at which this progression will plateau.

Justen Bersin-Taylor in his adapted flat

Justen in his adapted flat

He has catalogued his journey from near-death to the present day through a series of Instagram posts which often feature his wife Sandrine. Justen, who turned 40 this month, said her support during the last two years has enabled him to stay positive during the toughest of times.

‘I maintain to everybody that had the roles been reversed, I would not have coped nearly as well as my wife has,’ says Justen. ‘She has been a tower of strength in organising my rehab and therapy and sorting out the flat we have moved into – all while maintain a full-time job.’

The future now consists of more recovery work, another physical challenge – and hopefully a return to work as a solicitor.

‘At the moment I am on long-term illness leave but I have an open line with my employer so they know I am progressing and they know I want to return to work.

‘At the moment my work is 24/7 rehab and I have to strike while the iron is hot. Now that I have done the swim I want to form a team to undertake the BackUp Push, climbing Yr Wyddfa (formerly known as Mount Snowdon) in June that will require me to build up even more strength and stability. It’s all rehab but it’s all functional rehab.

‘I think it is completely understandable for anyone in my position to sit in the corner, not do anything and mourn what they have lost, but that’s not for me. I am not doing it to prove a point or be some sort of inspiration, I am just trying to move the needle forward.’

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