A
huge step for race crash man
FIGHTING
BACK: Steve Tarrant says he is lucky to be alive
IT was an emotional moment for the man who survived after
being hit by a 100mph racing car.
Poole man Steve Tarrant took his first outside steps on his
new artificial leg at a New Forest pub that was the venue for his
parents-in-law's wedding anniversary dinner.
After more than three months in hospital - and cheating
death four times because of medical complications - Mr Tarrant, 40, was
nervously watched by his family.
The computer and telecommunications engineer not only
managed to get out of the car but step on to the pavement and walk around the
pub.
"I was ecstatically happy, if shattered. It was a very
big moment," he said.
"Every step is almost a challenge - learning what you
can and can't do, and how you go about doing it," added Mr Tarrant, who
survived blood poisoning, gangrene and a blood clot.
Now, step by step, Mr Tarrant, of Esmonde Way, Canford
Heath, is walking his way back to health after cheating death at last July's
Goodwood Festival of Speed in Sussex where he was a volunteer race marshal.
"I consider myself very lucky to have survived that
and the illnesses in hospital afterwards so now I can walk," he said.
Surgeons saved his almost severed left leg - fitting an
adjustable metal frame to fuse the shattered bones - and performing delicate
skin grafts.
That frame has been removed with the leg recovered so it
can support Mr Tarrant's 18 stone without assistance. His horrific stomach and
head wounds have also healed.
But he could not have recovered without the support of his
wife Jackie - and the messages of support from friends and family.
"She has stood by me all the way. It has strengthened
the marital bond between us. I've been given a second chance," he said.
At this July's Festival of Speed, Mr Tarrant will lay a
wreath in memory of the race marshal who was killed.
That weekend he will be carrying out a desk job in race
control but he hopes to get back to marshalling during mid-July.
"Each and every day I realise how lucky I am to be
alive. I now look on life differently - you tend to do more today rather than
keep putting it off for tomorrow," he explained. "I've been given a
second chance but some people aren't that lucky."
