An open letter from Harley Quinlan
Saturday 12 November: For Harley Quinlan, 09 Nov 2010 was the eve of travelling to NZ to compete in the SuperX series with team-mate #26 Luke Styke. Harley sustained a severe injury to his spinal cord during supercross training and lost the use of his legs.
With the support of the entire industry, Harley is on the road to recovery and has begun training to complete in hand cycle events. He's written an Open Letter to thank everyone who held him since the accident.
Hello All,
On November 9, it was 12 months since my accident and I have
recently
been trying to write letters to thank people individually for
the support, encouragement and belief everyone has given me since
November last year. But the amount of letters required was massive so
hopefully, this can get to the people that I have missed or have been
unable to reach.
I would just like to take this time to thank the thousands of people
who have aided my recovery and been in contact with me since last year. I
have had so many people show so much support and assistance to me that I
don't know how to thank them or can ever thank you enough. So, through
this letter I hope to pass on my sincere thanks on behalf of myself and
everyone in the Quinlan family.
To give everyone an update on my condition, everything is going well.
My body has settled down and I have been able to begin a regular
training program with a view to competing in hand cycling events in the
near future. I have been back to the races and watched the MX Nationals
at the Queensland rounds as well as some local races here in Queensland.
It's great to be able to see everyone and catch up again and their best
wishes mean alot to me.
I get my track chair soon to start competitive hand chair cycling and
have set some goals in the sport that I aspire to achieve. I have been
involved with assisting other spinal patients with their recovery and
also done alot of public speaking to school students regarding injuries
like mine. I have been back to my home town of Biloela to give a talk
and that fact that Iam alive, moving on and setting goals in my life is
exciting. I can't wait to see what the future brings.
But again, thank you to so many people and hopefully one day I will
be able to catch up with everyone face to face at some point and say it
personally.
Regards
Harley
HQ20.