Paralysed Cornish rugby player 'remembers neck break'
A Cornish schoolboy who was paralysed in a rugby match accident remembers all of the incident and knew immediately he had broken his neck, he has said.
Upper sixth student Max Levene, 17, from Truro School, was in a match against Kelly College in Tavistock, Devon, in October when he was injured.
He has been receiving treatment in a specialist spinal unit in Salisbury.
He said that, despite his accident, he still enjoyed watching the game and had seen some matches.
Max was injured in the last few minutes of the game on 10 October.
He was taken to Plymouth's Derriford Hospital and was there for six weeks before he was transferred to the Odstock unit. He is due to leave the unit later this month.
He is now tetraplegic, paralysed below the chest, with limited movement in his arms.
Of the accident, he said: "I remember pretty much all of it. I picked up the ball, got tackled, hit the ground and sort of knew that I'd broken my neck."
He said that many of his friends had been up to see him in Salisbury and that the support of his local rugby community had been "fantastic since my accident".
He said: "They've really rallied and supported me."
He said he had been continuing to follow the game, and even been out to see some matches, including one at Twickenham
He said: "I still love watching it."
He added that although he was looking forward to getting out of the unit and returning home, he was still nervous about readjusting.
He said: "I've been in a safe environment for so many months.
"You see people who've left and they all seem to get on absolutely fine.
"They say it's strange getting out and it's hard. But they also say it feels really good after a couple of weeks, getting back to life as normal as it can be."
He intends to return to school in September to complete his A Levels.
A charity has been set up to help Max. Fund-raisers said they hoped to raise £50,000 in the first year.