'I climbed mountain after being told I'd never walk'

A father who was told he would never walk again has summited Yr Wyddfa, also known as Snowdon, 16 months after a serious motorbike crash left him paralysed from the waist down.

Sam Baldwin, from Carterton, in Oxfordshire, spent five months in hospital after breaking seven vertebrae in his back and neck in a crash in March 2025.

More than a year after first being told by doctors that he would never walk again, Baldwin made it to the peak of Yr Wyddfa on Saturday.

He said the challenge, which was raising money for the charity Spinal Research, was dedicated to "everyone who would give anything to take even one step."

"Getting up Snowdon was a celebration and a thank you, and a way of raising money for a great charity that gives people like me hope for a better future," he added.

On 16 March last year, Baldwin had been riding his motorcycle near his west Oxfordshire home when he hit a pothole - catapulting him 60 metres (197ft).

"I don't remember what happened," the 28-year-old said.

"I think I swerved to avoid something but I came off and my bike went on to hit a wall and trees and so I think I was lucky – even though I did myself a lot of damage."

The accident left the father-of-one with multiple injuries, including seven broken vertebrae in his back and neck - leaving him paralysed from the waist down.

He also fractured several ribs, both shoulders, smashed his elbow and punctured a lung.

Baldwin was placed in an induced coma for seven days, before spending five months in hospital in Oxford and Stoke Mandeville.

"My family were told I would never walk again and I remember spending hours every day staring at my toes willing them to move," Baldwin, who works for his family's roofing business in Witney, said.

"One day I saw the tiniest wiggle and that tiny movement became a spark of hope."

"From that moment I set goal after goal and, step by step, I did what they said I couldn't."

Baldwin had been due to climb Yr Wyddfa a week before his initial accident, and finally achieved that goal during a nine-hour trek on Saturday.

The former county rugby and basketball player said descending from the peak had been "really tough" and "one of the hardest thing I've ever done".

"I'm so grateful I'm still seeing improvements and although I can't carry heavy stuff, run or play sports I am so lucky to have all the important things that really matter in life, like being able to take my daughter Ayda to the beach," he added.