A GLASGOW man who plunged onto a railway track after being electrocuted as he took a short-cut home has described waking up to find his "legs were on fire".
Paul Johnson was 21 when he had to have both of his limbs amputated above the knee after the horror accident in 2014.
Mr Johnson, who is now 29 and works in marketing for the charity Finding Your Feet, credits the organisation for helping him get his life back on track after struggling to adjust to his disability.
His ordeal began when he decided to take a short-cut while making his way home to the southside of Glasgow at the end of a night out.
Mr Johnson said: "I was coming home at 4am and decided to take a shortcut across the overhead beams of the railway line.
"I was electrocuted by the overhead wires and that caused me to fall onto the tracks and black out.
“For a couple of hours I was knocked out cold. When I woke up my legs were on fire and I was in terrible pain.
"My bag was in the middle of the track with my phone inside, so I had to roll over to get it. I pulled myself to safety and called an ambulance."
Paramedics were on the scene within 20 minutes and saved his life, but Mr Johnson spent a month in intensive care before being transferred to a burns unit.
Although he began a slow physical recovery, the psychological effects were brutal.
Mr Johnson said: “I focused on the physical side, but didn’t deal with the emotional side at all.
"The first time I had to transfer myself from the bed to the wheelchair, it took me five minutes to cross a tiny gap and that’s when I realised: ‘This is what my life’s going to be like’.
"It hit me like a truck."
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Mr Johnson’s family got in touch with Finding Your Feet, which is based in Paisley but operates in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Fife and Ayrshire.
The charity helps around 800 amputees and people born without limbs.
It was founded by quadruple amputee and triathlete, Cor Hutton, who lost both of her hands and her feet in 2013 after pneumonia escalated into sepsis.
She went on to become the first Scot to receive a double hand transplant in 2019, and was also the first female quadruple amputee to climb Ben Nevis and Mount Kilimanjaro.
Mr Johnson said he was initially reluctant to meet with Ms Cor and had isolated himself at home because he "hated the idea of going out and people looking at me".
Ms Cor said: “Paul played hard to get. He made it quite difficult and would cancel, but I knew it would be helpful for him to be out so I wouldn’t take no for an answer.
“When you go into a coffee shop with someone else who’s missing limbs, the focus is no longer on you and you build your confidence.”
Today Mr Johnson - who walks with the aid of artificial limbs - said he copes with people staring at him by giving them "a smile and a nod".
He added: "Getting more involved with clubs and going out and seeing other amputees really helped me grow my confidence.”
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Finding Your Feet, which has expanded as a result of a £38,000 grant from the Health Lottery, now runs clubs across Scotland which offer activities such as pilates and swimming as well as advice for people who have lost limbs.
Mr Johnson said: “We really want to appeal to the amputees outside of the Glasgow area and the grant was vital for that.
“There’s a lot of word of mouth and we rely on physios and Occupational Therapists to tell people about it.
"Once you get here, everything we offer is free.
"We couldn’t do that without funding, so we want to say thanks so much to everyone who plays The Health Lottery.”
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