Just 15 months ago, Fletcher Crowley lay paralysed in hospital. Since then, the teenager has shown strength beyond his years as he navigates life in a wheelchair. With a positive attitude like no other, Fletcher tells Tamara Spray about his plans for Christmas – and beyond.
Fletcher Crowley has graduated from high school and with the HSC behind him, the 18-year-old is on the cusp of spending summer with his mates, ‘living the dream’ – bike riding, hitting the town and swimming. When we meet at Manly Dam, as he navigates his wheelchair with quick, masterful precision over rocky terrain and down to the water, it’s hard to believe that just over a year ago he was lying paralysed on a dirt ramp, having fallen from a height of three metres following a dirt bike trick gone wrong.
“It was one of the best days,” he says of that Sunday afternoon in September last year. “The vibe was there, all my mates were there. All the riding up to that point was so much fun – riding this new jump, doing huge tricks on it. It was just awesome.”
Fletcher, then a Year 11 student, spent all his spare time competing in and filming dirt jumping. When the Manly Vale local wasn’t working at 99 Bikes in Brookvale, fixing bikes, coaching kids to ride, or working at indoor bike park Big Air, he was building a jump at Red Hill Reserve in Beacon Hill with his friends.
“Every day I was up there stacking shovels of dirt onto the landing,” he says. “We’d been building the jump for three months. I wanted to do the double flip on it the whole time we were building it. That was my plan.”
Fletcher had practised the double backflip many times before on air bags, and with the encouragement of around 20 of his good mates, he was ready to try it on dirt.
“So I’d done probably 10 straight single back flips, and I was feeling it out to see if I could get speed for the double. Then I did five or six doubles and I was landing them, then kind of washing out, sliding out. They weren’t bad crashes.
“And then the one I crashed on, I just didn’t pull hard enough. I threw my bike after the first rotation and then I couldn’t slow myself down enough, so I landed on my head and neck.
“I don’t remember being in any pain,” he recalls. “It was more a fear of ‘I can’t feel my legs.’”
Fletcher’s mates kept him as still as possible until the ambulance arrived, and held up the phone so he could talk to his dad. “I didn’t want to scare him,” Fletcher says, so he told his dad he’d ‘had a bit of a crash.’
His parents Pat, Nicky and brother, Levi, arrived at the scene, along with four ambulances, fire engines and police. Fletcher was rushed to Royal North Shore Hospital and had surgery that night.
“It feels good, knowing that I’m helping other people,” Fletcher says of inspiring his Insta followers
The family went to Japan earlier this year for dad Pat’s 50th birthday
He spent eight days in the intensive care unit (ICU). He had a burst fracture on the T8 and T9 vertebrae, meaning those bones had crushed, and his spinal cord was compressed at T9, resulting in him being paralysed from the belly button down. Fletcher had also broken three ribs. He now has two metal rods going down his spine to hold it together, from T6 to T11, along with 12 screws.
As for the paraplegia diagnosis, Fletcher quietly says: “I don’t remember when they told me. I just remember knowing.”
Despite his life-changing injuries, Fletcher still looks back on the day of the accident as ‘the perfect day, one of the best.’
While in hospital, Fletcher was surrounded by support. His mates visited him in ICU almost every day, often after school, bringing treats and keeping his spirits high. “Since the start they’ve seen what it’s like and what I’ve had to do. They just understand,” says Fletcher, adding that he and his mates do ‘everything that I used to do.’
The Crowley family were supported too, with Fletcher saying they ‘had to buy a second freezer’ for all the meals they received. A number of fundraisers were also organised by the community for the family.
One particular message of support by friend and motocross biker, Prutti, resonated with Fletcher. “He said: ‘This happened for you, not to you’. And I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I can make the most out of this. Your life’s what you make it.’”
And that began with school. “The social worker came into my ICU room and asked if I wanted to start school,” Fletcher says. “I was on (strong pain killers) and said, ‘Yeah, whatever.’ I regretted that pretty quick! But it was honestly so good doing school, because it gave me something to do.”
Fletcher started his studies with the RNS Hospital School four weeks after his accident. He’d missed Year 11 exams at Northern Beaches Secondary College (Balgowlah Boys), which were due to start the day after the accident, but started his Year 12 subjects PDHPE, mathematics and multimedia.
Physiotherapy also began the day Fletcher moved to the spinal ward. “I was in the gym for two minutes, in a chair that would tilt me back,” he says. “I couldn’t sit up without getting lightheaded and feeling nauseous.” Each day he would build up his time in the chair by minutes, each effort exhausting.
Being an avid filmmaker, Fletcher recorded his journey from the start, from his accident, which he posted on Instagram, to each of his rehabilitation milestones.
Even his first major achievement was caught on camera – along with his mum’s emotional reaction. “Three months in, I wiggled my toes for the first time,” he says.
The milestones kept coming. Fletcher would have twice-daily physio sessions, lasting more than two hours each. Once he moved to the Royal Ryde Rehabilitation Hospital he started to use the exoskeleton, a robotic mechanical device that can be worn. “It’s like a brace, a huge suit that you put on. It moves for you and when you get better you can start triggering the step. So if you move a little bit, it’ll move the rest of the step.
“When I left Ryde Rehab, which was in February, I didn’t have much mobility. I had a tiny bit of movement, but nothing compared to what I have now.”
After 77 days in hospital, on 15 February, he moved back home and started his physio at Sargood on Collaroy – with continued success. He began in a sling, with physiotherapists moving his legs for him and progressed to a forearm support frame. It was this moment that Fletcher says was his turning point, ‘Because there weren’t any robots or people helping me.’
Now you can find Fletcher taking steps with crutches – and standing from a sitting position. “They were helping with my legs a fair bit, then slowly, slowly I could get more and more movement and do it myself.
“I have a fair bit of spasticity or tone,” he explains. “My muscles lock on and I (can’t) bend my legs. That’s what helps me stand up as well.”
Nicky, Pat and Fletcher at the Year 12 graduation
Fletcher at the City 2 Surf;
Bally Boys formal with friend Jett
The physiotherapy is mentally draining. “I’m wrecked after it,” he says. “It’s just so much brain power. If I go to physio and walk 100 metres in crutches for over an hour, I’ll get home and be absolutely wrecked.”
Returning home in February also meant heading back to Bally Boys. “I was so excited to go back to school,” he remembers. “Just getting back to normality.”
Despite being advised to complete Year 12 and his HSC over two years, Fletcher had his own ideas. “I was just like, ‘No, I want to get it done.’” And true to form, he has completed his HSC exams for all of his subjects.
He has now graduated from school and is tossing up whether he’d like to go to university to study teaching. But first he’s taking a year off, and has a fundraising event in the works.
Together with Jody Mielke, a triathlete, Fletcher is planning to do a 24-hour ‘ultra’ fundraiser in March next year. Jody will run, swim and ride around Narrabeen Lagoon, while Fletcher does laps in his wheelchair, paddles, and rides his adaptive bike. They’ll also do tandem kayaking.
They are hoping to raise funds for the Perry Cross Spinal Research Foundation, which works to find a cure for paralysis. Fletcher is ‘super keen’ and already in training. While they will be the only two people taking part, they hope the public cheers them on.
In fact, Fletcher has already been raising money for spinal cord research and rehabilitation, with his range of ‘Get Silly’ t-shirts and jumpers, designed by mum Nicky.
‘Get Silly’ is a phrase Fletcher and his mates coined, and he was yelling it out on his runs the day of the accident. So it was a natural progression to have that phrase on the t-shirts – Fletcher’s attempt to turn his ‘misadventure into a mission.’
For now, summer lies ahead, and like any 18 year old, he is looking forward to hanging out with his mates. Together they’ve been to the Travis Scott and Coldplay concerts and competed in the City 2 Surf, with Fletcher saying life is ‘pretty similar, but I guess I’m just in a wheelchair.’
“Sometimes there’s steps, but I can get up one or two steps. Most places are accessible and if not, my mates just carry me.”
His adrenaline fix is serviced with adaptive sports. He has a Bowhead, which is an adaptive electric mountain bike, he has tried wheelchair basketball and loves adaptive surfing. He’s also keen to try sit-skiing, a type of skiing where para-athletes do tricks and flips, and jet-skiing. Fletcher dreams of competing at the 2032 Brisbane Paralympics – he’s just not sure in which sport yet.
Even Fletcher is amazed at the physical progress he has made. “Compared to what I thought I’d be able to do a year from my accident, I’m well past that now.
“I’ve realised that we all have a certain amount of time to live. You’ve got to make the most out of it. I feel like before (the accident) I didn’t really think much about what I could do, because I was just like everyone else, I could do whatever I wanted.
“You’ve got to make use of what you can use and do as much as you can,” he says. “I feel like it’s made me want to achieve so much more in life.”
It’s a common theme in the Crowley household. Fletcher’s brother Levi, 21, has Von Hippel-Lindau disease, a rare cancer where the body over-produces red blood cells which turn into cysts in the nervous system. He’s lost sight in one eye and has had many surgeries. But like Fletcher, Levi takes it in his stride.
For Nicky and Pat, it means a lot of medical appointments for the boys. “You just cope,” Nicky says. “You just have to get on with things. And (Fletcher) being so positive and active and wanting to engage in life makes it easier for all of us.”
But nothing can stop the Crowleys. The family took a trip to Japan earlier this year to celebrate Pat’s 50th birthday, and Nicky says they are looking forward to celebrating Christmas together this year – especially now Fletcher is settled at home permanently. Last Christmas he was in hospital, and came home for just four days over the festive season.
Fletcher’s Instagram page has more than 10,000 followers, many of whom message him. When asked what kinds of comments he gets, Fletcher says: “Heaps of people tell me I’ve inspired them. A few other paraplegics who follow me message me (saying), ‘You don’t know how much you’ve helped, seeing your recovery.’
“It feels good, knowing that I’m helping other people. That’s probably the best part.”
Visit getsillyco.com to help raise money for spinal cord research. Stay up to date with Fletcher on Instagram @fletchcrowley_