Dragons Forward Breaks Neck In Freak Accident

Dragons forward Ed Jackson has broken his neck after diving into the shallow end of a swimming pool.

Jackson hit his head at the bottom of a pool at a family barbecue on April 8 and now faces an uncertain future after being dragged from the water by his father with no feeling in his arms or legs.

The back-row forward was rushed to Southmead Hospital, Bristol, for emergency surgery to remove a shattered vertebrae and insert a metal disk.

“After hitting my head on the bottom I realised I couldn’t swim to the surface because I’d lost movement in my legs and power in my arms.” Jackson said.

“My dad (a retired GP) and friend Daffyd immediately knew something was wrong, pulled me to the surface and stabilised me in the pool until the ambulance came.

“I was transferred to Southmead Hospital with a fracture dislocation at the C6/7 joint.

“After a number of MRI scans and X-Rays the doctors decided to operate at 2am to stabilise my neck as pressure was being put on my spinal cord. In surgery they removed my shattered disc, relocated my vertebrae and fixed it in place with a metal plate.

“I woke up in ICU, luckily completely coherent, however no feeling below my neck other than limited movement in my right arm.

“You never think this s*** is ever going to happen to you, but it did, now I’ve got to deal with it. This is my road to recovery.”

We wish him all the best in recovery.