Former Mount Gambier motocross rider Zac Watson was in Alice Springs training for the Finke Desert Race when his life took an unexpected turn.

Mr Watson knew the track well enough having trained there for several years and rode from the 80km to 20km mark, accompanied by his friend, partner Brooke and a friend’s father in a chase car.

“I waited for the car and said, ‘yep all good, this last 20km we cannot really see so I will see you at the end, I am just going to cruise’,” he said.

“I was just cruising at about 120 kph and at about the 10km mark, so only about 5km from where we packed up, the back end of my bike sort of just skipped out.

“I went to correct it and then it skipped out the other way … I launched probably about 30 metres and landed on my head and then my legs came over, I scorpioned myself.

“I heard a very loud bang and a shatter and that was my T8 in my back going.

“I went to get up and thought ‘that kind of hurt’ – and then I just couldn’t move.

“I kept trying to get up, I took my helmet off and then took my CamelBak off my back and my insides were just burning.

“I undid my kidney belt and all the pressure released and the pain just went through the roof.”

He was paralysed from the chest down.

Mr Watson lay on the hot desert track for approximately 30 minutes before he was found by other riders, who called an ambulance.

“It took about two and a half hours to get me off the track because they could not get the spinal board under me,” he said.

“Honestly, I don’t think they thought I was going to be alive when they got there, probably about 10 or 15 minutes and that would have been the end of it.

“It got to a point where I just crossed my arms and I thought, ‘this is it’, I just found myself deteriorating.

“It was scary, but I couldn’t do anything, so I kind of just accepted that was the end of it and I was just going to slowly pass away there.”

Mr Watson was taken to Alice Springs Hospital in a critical condition and put in a coma before being airlifted to Adelaide.

Mr Watson fractured seven vertebrae and exploded another and his spine is now fused from his T4 to his T11 by two 400mm long rods and 12 screws.

“I can feel my whole core, but I cannot feel my stomach, from the sternum down I have no feeling,” he said.

“When the doctors said there is not much chance I would walk again … yeah I cried, but I was not as bad as I should have been because laying on that track I already knew what I had done.”

Mr Watson spent several days in the ICU with a high fever and extremely low blood pressure before moving to the spinal ward, where he could not eat or drink for seven days, losing 10kg.

“That seven days was brutal – I thought, if this is what it’s going to be like I do not want to do it,” he said.

“Then I had a bloke in a wheelchair come and see me who was so positive, he came in with this big smile on his face and said ‘mate, you are going to have the sickest life and I can tell you are going to be a mad dude’ and I was like ‘this is going to be sick, I can do this’.”

Mr Watson said getting out of bed for the first time was heartbreaking because the realisation of being paralysed hit.

“I got up in the chair and touched my legs and I just broke down, I thought ‘oh no this is horrible, this is messed up,’” he said.

“They literally just feel like a plank of wood.”

However, Mr Watson progressed quickly and was getting out of bed and into a wheelchair by day nine.

“From that day on I got out of bed every time I had an opportunity even if I did not feel like getting up,” he said.

“I was in a lot of pain, but just getting out of bed was a huge step mentally.

“I have not missed a single gym or physio session, the first week in the gym was just upper light weights and it was kind of demoralising, because I used to be able to just throw things around.

“Now, I do not think I have ever been this strong in my shoulders, arms, back and chest.”

Whether Mr Watson will walk again is unknown, with a doctor saying his progress by 12 weeks would determine his outcome, however a rehab facility owner had a different opinion.

“He said, ‘you are still changing by 12 months and if you work hard your muscles might engage somewhere that someone else’s have not’,” he said.

“Another bloke who also runs a rehab facility said, ‘you are going to walk again in your lifetime, I cannot say when, but you are going to walk.’

“I’m not getting my hopes up, but to have that in the back of your mind is a bit of a goal, work hard because you do not know what could possibly happen.”

Mr Watson advised people in the same or similar situation to consider their circumstances a second chance at life and maintains a positive attitude, adopting the mantra ‘life goes on.’

“Just because I have had this injury, life does not stop,” he said.

“It could be so much worse, I have my arms, I have my chest, and there are so many people way worse off than me.

“I did this doing something I love, this was in my control – I knew the risk, I knew what could possibly go wrong and unfortunately the worst has happened.

“But I am still the same person, I just cannot walk and that is not going to deter me from being the person that I want to be.”

Mr Watson received an outpouring of support from the community and A GoFundMe page has been established to help fundraise for his medical equipment, ongoing appointments, a wheelchair-accessible vehicle and purchasing a new home.

“I am lost for words for the support from people; everyone has been nothing short of amazing,” he said.

“The support has been next level; it is so heartwarming honestly.

“I do not think I can say thank you enough, it is huge.”

Mr Watson said his love for motocross will never change, with plans to attend the Finke race next year, and he has an exciting future ahead with his partner, with a lap around Australia on the cards.

“I am going to take the opportunity to show people that if you are in a wheelchair, you still can go places,” he said.

“I want to see how far you can really go; I want to take people to places they wouldn’t think they could get to in a wheelchair.”