Pontyclun man paralysed from waist down achieves dream of climbing Pen y Fan

Kate Lewis reports.

A paralysed man has achieved his "bucket list" dream of reaching the Pen y Fan summit, raising money for the UK's leading spinal research charity in the process.

Jon Hobbs, who was paralysed from the chest down in his early 20s, made it to the top of the mountain on Saturday with the help of a team of 28 supporters.

The 39-year-old from Pontyclun was injured after he dived into a swimming pool during a holiday in Magaluf with friends in 2007.

A keen rugby player and trainee quantity surveyor at the time, Jon was paralysed instantly after the incident.

The team worked in groups of four to help Jon up the mountain, rotating every few minutes. Credit: Jon Hobbs

Talking ahead of Saturday's challenge, Jon said: "Not only did it flip my world upside down but it changed me and my life forever."

However, he added: "Over the past 17 years I’ve tried to live as normal a life as possible. I’ve overcome many hurdles and built a great life so now I’d like to push myself outside my comfort zone to give something back and try to help others."

The challenge was made possible by a specially adapted wheelchair, designed by Jon's engineer brother Jamie.

Jon has no hand or wrist movement, and only limited function in his arms, which had to be taken into consideration coming up with the design.

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Talking to ITV Wales' reporter Kate Lewis after the event, Jon explained: "My brother made an especially adapted chair so that helped.

"Everyone was onboard, it was brilliant. There was a real high. I loved it."

A large team was needed to pull off Saturday's mission safely, going up and down the 2,900ft mountain without breaks on the chair.

Beforehand, the team described the prospect of managing the rocky terrain as "a huge challenge." However, it was worth every moment.

Jon described the challenge as the first "full adrenaline rush" he has had since his accident.

He said he wanted to do it to raise money for spinal research, as well as pushing himself. In total, Jon and his 28-strong team took 3 hours to make it up and down.

The team included close friend Lloyd Collier, an emergency medicine consultant, who will be travelling to the Sahara dessert later this week to take on the famous Marathon des Sables - an ultramarathon roughly the equivalent to six marathons in just six days.

Lloyd, an emergency medicine consultant originally from Pontyclun but currently working in Australia, will be running to raise money, again, for Spinal Research.

He said: “Spinal cord injury is an area of research close to my heart and that of my family and local community. Two very important people, my late uncle Alun and Jon, sustained spinal cord injuries in their 20s.

“Despite this, they have both been inspirational figures of resilience in my life and I wanted to be with Jon when he makes the attempt to summit Pen-y-Fan.”

Jon said going up the mountain was the first "full adrenaline rush" he has had since his accident. Credit: Jon Hobbs

Raising money for the charity previously, Lloyd set a new world record for circumnavigating the world on a tandem bike with a fellow medic, Louis Snellgrove, in 2019.

Taking 283 days to cover more than 29,000 kilometres, they cycled through 23 countries including India, Mongolia and Russia.

Jon said: “Lloyd may say I’m his inspiration but it’s completely the reverse. He has absolutely inspired me with all that he has achieved in life and the things he has already done to raise money for Spinal Research."

Lloyd told Kate Lewis: "For me it was definitely one of the proudest moments, just to call Jon my friend really." He added: "Watching Jon achieve that goal was quite emotional."

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