text: Two base jumpers who broke their backs and were told they may never walk again after they fell 500ft have started jumping again. Austin Carey, 23, and Jay Rawe, 25, plummeted onto a riverbank when their parachutes tangled at the Perrine Bridge, Idaho, and were left badly injured. But a year later, after intensive recovery, both men have returned to the sport they love - and Mr Carey has even retraced his steps to successfully jump from the bridge. Austin Carey (bottom) and Jay Rawe (right) were left with broken vertebrae after a base jump off Pennine Bridge in Idaho went wrong and the fall almost killed them, one year on both have returned to the sport . Mr Carey was told he may never walk again after being injured, but he recovered to return to the jump this year . The pair had been attempting a risky 'totem pole waterfall' manoeuvre when Jay lost his balance and pulled out his friend's parachute and landed inside of it. The jump on March 24 last year was being recorded by spectators and they watched as the pair spiraled to the beach below. Stunned spectators - who recorded the near-fatal fall - could only gasp in horror as they spiralled onto the beach below. Both suffered fractures to the spine - and Mr Carey was told he might not walk again. Last month - almost a year to the day - the 23-year-old retraced his steps by successfully base jumping again from the Perrine Bridge. He said: 'It was such an amazing feeling to be back there after everything I had been through and all the work I have put into making my dream of jumping again a reality. Mr Rawe suffered fractures to his spine after he plummeted 500ft to a river bank when the fall went wrong . 'Because of what happened to Jay and me I've accepted death as a possibility - but I can't dream of a life without doing what I love.' Mr Carey, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, has no memory of the fall but Mr Rawe remembers it clearly. He said: 'I remember standing on Austin's shoulders and getting ready while our friends held him there. 'Austin gave the 3-2-1 countdown and I remember falling backwards and trying to jump onto the handrail, missing it, hitting the diving board and starting to flip. 'I grabbed his pilot chute and tried to unwrap his bridle from around my leg. I then landed in his parachute, looked up and saw the sky above me and his canopy flapping around. As Mr Carey jumped off the ledge of the bridge, Mr Rawe (left, top) got his foot stuck on the railings, the pair then began to tumble towards the river bank 500ft below (right) without their parachutes opening properly . As they fell Mr Rawe got stuck in Mr Carey's parachute (left) and the pair got closer to the ground (right) By standers saw Mr Rawe trying to untangle himself from the parachute (left) and Mr Carey a crumpled heap (right) after the pair spiraled at speed towards the ground below the base jumping site . 'The sound was significantly different from any other base jump and I remember thinking how I needed to get out of that position. 'I kicked my feet over my head, fell out, and remember spinning at the ground as it got closer and knowing that we were gonna hit. 'Next thing I remember is waking up and sitting upright to catch the breath that had been knocked out of me. There were people all around, calling the emergency services, making sure we were staying still.' The pair were taken to hospital and had to undergo emergency 10-hour surgeries. Mr Rawe added: 'Seeing it on film the first few times made my stomach drop out like I was riding a roller-coaster.' Mr Carey was recovering in hospital weeks after the fall and said moving his legs caused him immense pain . Both men had to undergo emergency 10-hour surgery for injuries to their backs, Mr Rawe's is shown . He suffered fractures and damage to his vertebrae and a sprained right ankle in which the ligament was completely 'torn off the bone'. Mr Carey's injuries were more serious. He fractured his vertebrae, and suffered an incomplete spinal cord injury. Some of his vertebrae was almost split in half by the impact. The pair had done almost 500 base-jumps between them when they were injured. Mr Carey had to have a thumbnail-sized piece of bone removed from his spinal cord and Mr Rawe had some of his vertebrae fused with titanium. While Mr Rawe, from Florida, battled back onto his feet within a few weeks Mr Carey faced the prospect of never walking again. After months of rehabilitation Mr Carey started to improve and became determined to get walking again . The base jumper was left in a wheelchair and began undergoing painful therapy to learn to walk again . After seven months in a wheelchair Mr Carey was able to walk again, having trained in his high school pool . He spent three months in a back brace and seven months in a wheelchair, taking every opportunity to workout in his high-school swimming pool to strengthen his body. He said: 'The recovery process was insane. At first I could barely get out of bed because of the pain. The whole time I would feel severe nerve pain that would make me scream in agony for hours. It felt as though someone was holding a taser to my legs.' He was treated at the Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center Hospital, Idaho and Mr Rawe at St Luke's Magic Valley Medical Center, Twin Falls and Tampa General Hospital, Florida. Almost a year to the day of the near fatal jump Mr Austin returned to the bridge to do it again successfully . The 23-year-old avid base jumper says he wants to continue the sport and may next try wing suit base jumping . This time there were no problems and the 23-year-old sailed to the ground, determined to continue the sport . Both have now made unexpected recoveries and returned to base jumping, despite being involved in the near-fatal accident. Mr Carey, a fitness coach, said his mother raised concerns about him returning to the sport. He said: 'She is the strongest, most giving person I will ever meet. If something happened to me again I can't imagine what she would go through. But she knows how much this means to me and how much joy it gives me.' Mr Carey said he plans next to try wing suit base jumping. Mr Rawe made a remarkable recovery from the fall and around six months later was back base jumping . The 25-year-old began base jumping last October and went to Fayetteville in West Virginia to base jump . In October 2014 Mr Rawe returned to the sport at Fayetteville, West Virginia, and said he has no plans to put down his parachute. 'Giving it up never really seemed like an option to me,' he said. 'My family would like me to stop out of the fear that I will injure myself again - but life is too short to not do the things that I love.'
target: Austin Carey and Jay Rawe were involved in near-fatal base jump last year .
  The jump from Perrine Bridge went wrong and the pair spiraled 500ft down .
  Men suffered fractured vertebrae and Mr Carey was told he may never walk again because of the severity of his injuries from the jump .
  Both miraculously recovered and have returned to the sport - Mr Carey back to the site of the near-fatal jump almost a year after the accident .