Last Sunday (6 October), former Royal Marine, Michael Oakes, completed the Ironman Barcelona just one year after a life-threatening skydiving incident.
On 8 October 2023, disaster struck as Michael attempted his 379th skydive – his eighth that weekend.
Just 200 feet from the landing site he noticed something was wrong, but it was too late. He hurtled toward the ground at 40mph, suffering catastrophic injuries, including a burst L4 spinal fracture.
The on-duty crew were returning to base at Thruxton after attending an incident nearby when the call came in. They were immediately diverted to Michael’s side where they administered strong pain relief before flying him to the nearest major trauma centre at University Hospital Southampton.
A life-threatening incident
Despite being told, “You shouldn’t be able to walk again, your spine’s exploded,” Michael was determined to recover and get back to his active lifestyle and raise vital funds for the crew who treated him that day.
Ironman Barcelona.
Consisting of a 3.8km swim, 180km cycle and 42.2km run, the long-distance triathlon race is not for the faint-hearted. But just shy of a year since his life-changing injury, Michael crossed the line at Ironman Barcelona on Sunday, in a time of 11 hours and 50 minutes.
Michael said:
“I didn’t know how my body would react to the stress that a full Ironman would put on it, but I kept thinking about the reason why I was there and feeling so lucky that 12 months ago I was in a very different place, lying in that field being worked on by the Air Ambulance crew.
“I felt this was a way of showing that their skills and what they did for me were going to be repaid, and I was going to get to the end no matter what. After 11hrs 50mins I heard the words, ‘Michael, you are an Ironman’.”
Michael, left, in hospital last year and right, at Ironman Barcelona on Sunday.
There is still time to donate to Michael’s JustGiving page. So far, he has raised £680 in aid of our life-saving service and helping us be there for the next person who needs us most.
