In February of 2001 I suffered an industrial accident, which caused the traumatic amputation of the fingers of my right hand. Following 19 hours of surgery (and then a further 8 hours) all that I had of use of on my right hand was a short stump on my little finger and, luckily for me, the surgeon had managed to re-implant my ring finger as my thumb.

During the weeks and months that followed, getting back on my bike became one of my main priorities. I had heard of NABD and had actually looked around their stalls at various rallies and shows but it never really registered what great work they were doing for bikers. I looked on the website and found other bikers with similar injuries that had fitted a thumb brake on the left hand side and had found this adaption to work extremely well. I duly sent off my subscription and wrote to NABD with various questions about the probability of getting my bike back on the road (it was a Suzuki VZ800 Marauder which I had only had for 18 months and didn't want to change it).

This was amazing; they not only gave me the help and advice I needed but also said that I could apply for a grant towards the cost of the adaption, and supply the thumb brake as part of the grant. This was what I wanted to hear, but I still had a problem. The way the thumb had healed had not left me with enough webspace (the skin between the thumb and the palm) to get my hand around the throttle. I was on the great NHS waiting list and would just have to wait until I was informed by them that the operation could go ahead.

Exactly one year after my accident (to the day, in fact), I had the operation to increase the webspace. It was successful and all I had to do was wait for it to heal and see if the skin graft would give me the extra reach I needed to grip the throttle. At last, I sat in the garage revving the bike with my right hand, it was all systems go, and time to get the job done.

I found my chosen engineer in the town that I grew up in, 'Colin Rides Motorcycles' in Widnes, Cheshire. Colin had done adaptions before and also specialises in the British bikes of the past, as well as the normal work required to keep today's bikes on the road. Colin gave me the written quotation I required and I applied to the NABD for my grant. My grant was confirmed at NABD and as soon as the thumb brake arrived I made arrangements for Colin to start the adaption work. As the thumb brake is designed basically for race bikes we had the initial problem of fitting it on a cruiser style bike that had handlebars of a wider circumference, but Colin found a way around that problem and also increased the length of the lever so no switchgear had to be removed. Although cruisers are not renowned for their braking capacity, I had always found the front brake on the Marauder sufficient for my needs. Braided hoses were fitted to the adaption to assist braking force, as we feared there could be a loss of braking power.

The bike was tested during the work and sure enough, some braking power had been lost but at the moment I can live with that. The bike and more importantly, myself are now back on the road. Although more work may have to be done in the future and some cosmetic work requires doing, at the moment I have returned to what I love. The wind in my hair, a grin on my face, and the freedom that only riding a bike can give anyone. So, if you see a red and cream VZ800 cruisin' by and you can hear the sound of laughter in the wind, it's me. wave your hand or nod your head, I promise I'll return the gesture. After fearing I had lost any chance of biking ever again, I found people with the insight and knowledge, as well as the guts, to start an association to help others to forget their nightmare and to keep their dreams alive.

I can never thank NABD enough for the help I have been given and will tell them at every rally and show that I attend. I must also thank again Colin Rides for whose help and support I will be eternally grateful.

Thanks for all the help you have given me, enabling me to get back on the road and helping to get my life and biking back to how it was.

This NABD grant of £300.00 was sponsored by donations from The Oddballs MCC and Berwick & District MCC