A Rainham man who was told he may never walk again after a car crash will carry the Paralympic Torch.

Adam Hollick, 23, broke his neck and damaged his spinal cord in a car crash when he was 20-years-old.

He said: “I was on my way to a party when the car I was travelling in as a front seat passenger lost control on the motorway and crashed.

“I had immediate surgery to insert a permanent metal fixation to help the bones fuse together.

“I was told I may never walk again but I though, that may be the case but I am not going to have anyone telling me that until I have tried everything I can.”

After a month Adam was transferred to a specialist spinal injury unit at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire – the same hospital which played a key part in the founding of the Paralympic Games in 1948.

Adam said: “I was not going to give up trying. I worked hard with the physios and I started to regain more function.

“I set a new goal every day. If I managed to get out of the chair one day, the next day I had to take a step, and then get to the door, and it wasn’t long before I was heading down the corridor.

“After two months I finally walked out of the hospital exit.”

After his incredible recovery, Adam qualified as a fitness instructor through the InstructAbility scheme run by spinal charity Aspire, and now works with clients – including those with disabilities.

Adam is part of a five person team of recent graduates of the charity’s programme who will be carrying the Torch.

He said: “When I got the news that I was going to carry the Paralympic Torch I had my auntie screaming down the phone and then my mum who was at work also screamed along with the rest of her office.”

The Paralympic Torch relay starts on August 28 and lasts for 24-hours, travelling from Stoke Mandeville Hospital to the Olympic Stadium in Stratford.