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My name is Stuart Morrissey. I am a chef by trade and trained in the Royal Air Force but have done a few different jobs in my time.
In 1989 I injured my spine (3rd and 4th lumbar discs) whilst working for a TV manufacturing company, and was told that surgery was needed to correct it. Well, not liking hospital food combined with the success rate for this operation not being very high, I went with plan B: exercise, physiotherapy, painkillers and lots of time off work.
In 1993 I started riding motorbikes, well it was a Passola (but please don’t laugh). I then moved up a gear to a Honda Melody and then I got myself a GP100 and went back to work as a chef at the end of 1993.
I had my first serious biking accident when a drink-driver pulled out on me at 0915 hours on my way home from completing a breakfast shift. My back problem was aggravated and my bike was definitely dead. In 1994 after lots of physiotherapy, exercises and courses of epidural injections every six months, I started to ride my new bike at Honda CG125. I then went back to work as a chef in a hotel in Plymouth and in my spare time started working for DAAT (Devon Air Ambulance Trust).
Although I was told that the damage to my spine was getting worse, I was determined to beat it whichever way I could. I was already registered disabled but enjoyed my voluntary work as well as working in the hotel trade. I had my good days and my bad days, but I believe that if you have the determination you can do anything.
In 1998 my life changed a little bit, I had met someone who accepted my back problems and also my shift patterns within work, together with the voluntary work that I was doing for DAAT. I expected to settle down for the rest of my life and be happy, this all ended in 2002 and it hit me like a ton of bricks.
This hurt me mentally and also the fact that I had surgery on my spine 7 months earlier, I thought my life was falling apart and I needed something to take my mind off of it. I had given up working voluntarily for DAAT and concentrated on working at the hotel, working long hours to occupy myself. This was noticed by my head chef who suggested that I needed something else other than work and (as the hotel ran a not very successful yearly collection for a charity called DEBRA) thought it might be a good idea if I joined them.
At first I declined to help the hotel, but after some careful consideration and looking at their average yearly figure of £300.00 per year, I thought that this charity deserved a little more help. We were bottom of the hotel group for donating money and with contacts that I already had, in my first year of assisting them we donated £3,500.00.
At the end of 2003 I was planning to move away from catering but decided to hold on for another year and try and take the hotel I was working for from the bottom of the charity leader board to the top. I started planning a charity motorbike ride from Plymouth to Bolton in Lancashire and back to Plymouth in 48 hours on A/B roads and also helped arrange a charity dinner/dance. The date of the ride was set for 2004. The ride itself was completed in 32 hours with an 8 hour stop in between. I did have a mishap two months prior to the bike ride as a courier van reversed into me. The CG125 was a write-off but as all publicity was in place they repaired my motorbike. Also although my back problem combined with the additional damaged neck vertebrae, whiplash injury to my right shoulder and arm, I decided to attempt the ride anyway. At this point I was nick-named the MADRIDER, the 1961 bit was just the year in which I was born.
At the end of 2004, with funding from the bike ride and the charity dinner/dance we did hit the top of the leader board for the hotel group and donated £11,700.00 in total. This was my last year working as a chef as I found that the job was too much to cope with physically.
I moved from catering to work in a petrol station as a cashier on night shift, which meant that I had more time on my hands to get physically fit and carry on arranging bike rides.
In 2005 I rode Vulcan Harrier 125cc motorbike around England in 5 days totally solo with no back-up for the RNLI, visiting as many RNLI stations on route as possible. I raised £3,900.00 and rode in total 1,975 miles. At one point I was very tempted to give up as my back, neck injury and whiplash all started playing me up at the same time. As I never use pain killers while riding, I had to keep stopping and doing exercises at the side of the road, physically and mentally this was going against me, but the final achievement meant more to me so I persevered and finished the ride within the 5 days.
After riding around England I then decided in 2006 I was going to attempt something that nobody else had done before, that was to ride a Jailing 125cc motorbike from Lands End to John O’Groats and back to Lands End in 4 days, again riding solo. However, after lots of planning and many sponsors coming on-board I did set off in June 2006 and on the first day, when I was ahead of schedule, the engine on the Jailing went with a big bang in Bristol. I aborted the ride and was relayed home. Everyone thought that that would be it – how wrong they were.
The bike was stripped down the very day after I got back and it was found that the big-end had gone. I made quite a few enquiries on getting another bike and FirstClassMotorcycleTraining School very kindly lent me one of their Honda CG125’s. At this time I also had to have an emergency epidural injection as my back went into spasm. I also went under a lot of physiotherapy, yet although I was unable to ride a bike at this time I was planning to re-attempt the ride, my determination kept me going. I also brought on board a support vehicle and Devon and Cornwall Police suggested that another rider go with me. The other rider actually rode a 500cc quad bike, although the latter is not recommended due to constant fuelling stops. I also decided to split any money I raised between the three major rescue services for the South West, i.e. DAAT, RNLI and Cornwall Air Ambulance. I personally raised £2,900.00; the other rider raised £2,100.00, which gave a total of £5,000.00. We did the ride in the 4 days and had lots of fun along the way, even to the point when we got lost.
The scheduled 2 days up and 2 days back was very difficult with my disabilities as they are and the extra injuries which I endured in the latter accident. Some people wonder what gives me the motivation to carry on, it is purely the thought of raising money to help people who are worse off than me – and I know that there are.
In 2007 I decided that this would be my last year riding on L plates, although I will even after I have passed my test; most probably keep my 125cc as they are very reliable and a nice bike to ride.
After raising so much for other charities, I decided to do the ultimate ride on a Honda CG125 - that will be to ride solo around the UK on a coastal route over 10 days on A/B roads only - donating all monies raised to a bikers’ charity, namely the NABD, which is the National Association for Bikers with a Disability. This is because bikers have supported me all over the country with my rides and without them and my sponsors; I would have been unable to achieve what I have already. However, my 2007 ride did not go according to plan but I still managed to raise £800.00 for the NABD.
My 2008 ride is already well into the planning stage and I will be re-running my planned 2007 in an anti-clockwise direction for two charities, namely, DebRA and the C.O.B.B. Society UK.
My 2009 ride from Lands End/John O'Groats/Lands End in June this year did not go according to plan and we had to abort the ride north of Perth. However, I am not one to be defeated and am therefore planning to do a re-run ride in August 2009 in aid of Diabetes UK. 'Honeymonster' a fellow biker and great friend of mine is a diabetic himself and it was quite a shock not only to himself but to his friends as well when he was diagnosed.
So, on the 27 August 2009 I shall be getting on my Honda CG125cc motorbike and riding solo from Plymouth to Carlisle, Carlisle to John O'Groats to Inverness, Inverness to the Midlands, the Midlands to Lands End and home. My target is to raise £2,000.00 for Diabetes UK.
To all bikers who read this, it does not matter what disabilities you have, if you have the determination you can achieve anything. I always believe that there is someone worse off than me and yes, although this will definitely be my last ride on L plates, my charity bike riding will not stop for a long time to come.
'Ride safe, Ride with pride'
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