Run in the Dark 2012 Mark Pollock fell from a second story window in 2010. He broke
his back and the damage to his spinal cord left him paralysed.
Cruelly, this was not Mark?s first tragedy. 12 years earlier, he lost
his sight.
For his strength and determination in overcoming significant physical adversity, his continued inspiration of others in sharing his story and in constantly pushing out new boundaries, in his personal life and as an explorer and adventure racer, Mark Pollock was awarded a People of the Year Award.
Mark Pollock wanted to regain his identity after losing his sight and as part of regaining his identity after losing his sight he chose to take on spectacular challenges. He has survived the sub-zero temperatures of Antarctica as he raced to the South Pole over 43 days. He suffered the scorching heat of the Gobi Desert, completing six marathons in one week in “The Race of No Return”. He has competed in races on the frozen Arctic Ocean at the North Pole, through the desert lowlands of the Syrian African Rift Valley to the Dead Sea and at altitude at Everest base camp. He also has two Commonwealth Games medals for rowing under his belt.
In mid-2010, Mark’s business was thriving with a full calendar of motivational speaking events ahead. He was in the process of writing his second book and he was due to be married.
On the night of the 2nd of July 2010 everything changed. He fell from a second story window fracturing his skull, some ribs and breaking his back in a number of places. Mark was taken to intensive care where injuries such as bleeds on his brain and a suspected torn aorta one by one healed becoming less and less significant beside the fact that Mark could not feel or move anything below his belly button. An MRI confirmed damage to his spinal cord where two of his vertebrae had burst in the fall. Mark was transferred to the National Spinal Injuries Centre at Stoke Mandeville in England, where spinal surgeons stabilized the bones in his spine with metal rods.
Mark spent 7 months suffering an onslaught of kidney and heart infections, which brought weeks of temperatures and pain and a 3 stone weight loss. Mark’s bones eventually healed but medicine can do nothing to repair a damaged spinal cord and Mark was discharged to The National Rehabilitation Hospital in Ireland in February 2011.
As the blind adventure athlete lay in hospital, now paralysed and
broken, his supporters created Run in the Dark to fuel his ambition
to walk again. A spinal cord injured pioneer, he is exploring the
frontiers of recovery. Follow Mark’s exploration of aggressive
physical therapy and robotic technology at markpollocktrust.org.
Run in the Dark takes place on Wednesday 14th November 2012 at 7:30pm in six different locations including Dublin, Cork, Belfast, London, Manchester and New York. The race can be run at both 5km and 10km distances.
For more information please log on and sign up at www.runinthedark.org