Irreversible, my life, a battle

Forty years of an exciting life, until the day everything changes abruptly. The accident, which obliges Emmanuel, a professional motorcycle pilot, and a motorcyclist in the national police, to leave the world of valid people and join the handicapped world. In parallel, before the accident, during his coma and even afterwards, some mysterious signs appear and interfere in his life. Chance or synchronicity? Were these signs meant to warn him? Was the accident planned? In order to slow his life down, or make it take a different turn? Through his story, you will discover the hidden face of the daily life of a paraplegic, with all his suffering, psychological and physical, as well as the different steps in his reconstruction, full of obstacles and setbacks. EXCERPT It was 3 o’clock in the morning, on 22nd February 2013, and the alarm clock was ringing. It was time to get up, to serve and represent the French Republic. As every other week, on Friday morning, I turned into a night bird. I drove to Toulouse Central Police Station, where I slipped into my show costume, or should I say my National Police motorcyclist outfit. I joined my colleagues for the regular alcohol level tests, and we all departed together for a precise location, in order to set up the device. That morning, like many other mornings, our spot was located at the Ponts-Jumeaux, a very good place for “catching” drunken road delinquents. My mission was simple – when I say my mission, it was more the motorcyclist’s mission: chasing the naughty drivers who refused to submit to the test, or sometimes even just drove straight into the police roadblock. This mission was one I particularly enjoyed. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Born in 1973, Emmanuel Siaux was a motorcyclist in the French national police for twenty years, France Road Rallye Champion and Team Manager of the French National Police Motorcyclist team. On the eve of his fortieth birthday, an accident on duty confines him to a wheelchair, obliging him to face a new challenge: the long road to reconstruction and learning to live as a paraplegic.