Inspirational young man who survived horrific climbing accident raising cash for those who saved his life

Callum Rock, 20, has come a very long way from the day he nearly died after plunging from a rock face while climbing near Guisborough

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An inspirational young man who wasn’t expected to survive a horrific accident is fighting his way back to fitness and raising cash for those who saved his life.

Callum Rock’s family feared the worst after their 16-year-old son suffered appalling injuries after falling 70ft in a climbing accident.

The teenager sustained life-threatening multiple injuries which left his life hanging in the balance in August 2010.

It was touch and go as surgeons battled for 12 hours to repair his horrendously damaged body, including a severe brain injury and multiple skull and facial fractures.

But despite fears that he might never walk again, Callum, now 20, has proved everybody wrong with his amazing recovery.

Not only is he walking, the Middlesbrough College student has just completed a five-mile run to raise money for the Great North Air Ambulance, which helped to save his life.

Callum, who had to re-learn everything following his brush with death, completed the Hartlepool Marina 5 Mile Road Race in 50 minutes.

He has come a very long way from the day he nearly died after plunging from a rock face while climbing near Guisborough. Back then, his parents Jan and Anthony Rock were living every moment with the fear they might lose him.

Mum Jan said: “He wasn’t expected to survive basically because his injuries were so severe. We were literally living hour to hour.

“Callum spent the first 12 hours in theatre when he first got to hospital. There were five surgeons working to repair a severed artery. They couldn’t stop the bleeding.”

Jan said the surgeons at James Cook University Hospital were “brilliant” and Callum pulled through, but then followed a long process of repair and rehabilitation, including facial reconstruction and skin grafts to re-build his battered body.

Jan said: “When he first opened his eyes he couldn’t see, he couldn’t hear, he couldn’t move, he couldn’t swallow, he couldn’t walk, he couldn’t do anything. He was just like a newborn baby again. He had to be taught how to sit up, how to eat.”

Callum, of Marton, says he doesn’t remember much about his ordeal but admits having to learn things again has been frustrating.

But remarkably he is still able to laugh about what happened.

He jokes that he is like “the Iron Man”. And showing off the scars on his right arm, he said: “I should tell people I have fought a pack of tigers.”

Callum has been helped in his rehabilitation by taking up running again. He was a runner before his accident, saying: “I remember doing six-minute miles.”

He is now a member of the Swift-Tees running group and runs several times a week. He was among those selected to carry the Olympic torch in the run-up to the London 2012 Games.

His example has inspired local businessman Thomas Bunn, who donated £500 to Callum in aid of the Great North Air Ambulance.

Mr Bunn is MD of his own company, Laminate Products Direct Ltd. He said of Callum: “I am just so inspired by him. I have got a son the same age.”

With this generous donation, Callum has now raised more than £1,800 for the air ambulance. He said: “It was good to be able to raise money for them for what I owe them. I owe so many people so much it is ridiculous.”