Declan Slevin (Rosemount CC) will travel to Rio de Janeiro next Thursday as part of very strong Irish paracycling team. The father of three from Moate, 47, will compete in the M3 handcycling TT and road race on September 14th and 15th, respectively.
By Brian Canty
Declan Slevin was in the prime of his life when fate dealt him a cruel hand in 2004.
He was a 35-year-old self-employed carpenter and builder and a father of two children - Amy, 6 and Jessica, 4 - who had just converted his bungalow outside Moate into a more spacious dormer.
His renovation was so new, in fact, that he had walked up the stairs just twice – but that was long enough to make him believe the rolling farmlands yawning out before him would be so much better if trees didn’t obscure his view.
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So he took the ladder, grabbed the chainsaw and went about his business.
There were three telephone poles in a v-shape and he propped the ladder against the middle one.
The idea was to take the cable from it, lie it on the ground, cut down the trees and put up the cable afterwards.
Alas, that didn’t happen. When he opened the cable, it’s tension catapulted him into the next field.
The next thing he remembers is staring up at the sky on the flat of his back, unable to move his legs.
“I was married 10 years, we had two young kids and we decided we were going to change the house,” he recalls.
Slevin takes the acclaim of the crowd in Kilcullen, Co. Kildare after being crowned national champion (H1-5 handcycling) in June. (Photo: Sean Rowe)
“I’m a carpenter by trade and I’d just converted our bungalow to a dormer.
“There was a nice hill across the way and I decided to take the trees down. The next thing I was looking up at the stars on the broad of my back.”
The next “five or six minutes” he waited for help were among the longest in his life.
Why weren’t his legs working? What is the tingling sensation?
“I knew I was in trouble,” is how he summed up his predicament.
He was rushed to the Mater Hospital and later the National Rehab Hospital in Dun Laoghaire where his worst fears were confirmed about two weeks later; he was paralysed from the chest down and would spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
“They said ‘this is your life’ and it was hard to take.
“I think, if I hadn’t had my good wife Evelyn behind me I’d have packed it in there and then…
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“The house had to be modified; I had to put a lift in.
“When the accident happened I’d only been upstairs two nights and then we had to change the house…but I was lucky enough I was a builder and I knew what I was at.
“At the time you think it’s all over and you won’t have any more of a life or kids but now I’m stepping around with a five year (Graham) as well as a 17 and a 19 year-old; the whole crew are coming to Rio with me.”
Slevin, with his son Graham and one of the good people at Moate Cycles recently presented the big man with a new wheel bag (amongst other items) to takes his various bits all the way to Brazil next week.
At the time of the accident, Slevin was not really into sports at all.
He hadn’t the time with his job in pre-recession Ireland. But he didn't sit on his hands for long and went about setting up Rosemount Cycling Club.
From there he started competing in the Invacare Leagues thanks to the persuasive strategies of multiple world champion Mark Rohan and Tom Kelly and within a few weeks of being introduced to it, Slevin was hooked on handcycling.
“I was only a leisure cyclist but I got into sport in a big way after my accident; I was too busy working before.
“It’s only since I’ve been paralysed that I realised what I missed out on. Sport is such an important part of people’s lives and it's so important to be involved in it.”
Slevin showed an aptitude and an ambition for handcycling and was drafted into the Cycling Ireland set-up with the assistance and guidance of Cathal Miler, Enda Smyth and Jerry Towey – three of the country’s most well-known paracyclists.
And for the past two years he’s been part of the elite set-up, led by Neil Delahaye.
Rio and a first paralympics at 47 years of age beckon for him because he’s put the training and the time in to get himself into the shape of his life.
“The last three months has been hectic,” he said.
“I was on the development team working with Cathal, Enda and Jerry and now I’m on the team with Neil and he’s brought me on leaps and bounds; he has me in the shape of my life.
“I’m looking forward to going now and showing these other guys what I’m made of.”
Slevin will compete in the 20k time-trial on September 14th and the 60k road race a day later.
“If I can leave nothing on the line after, not able to do one more kilometre, if I cross the line having given 110%, first or last I’ll be happy, just as long as I give my all.
“I think this whole experience has taught me there’s life after injury; it’s not over.
“When you’re lying on that bed up in Dun Laoghaire and you think it’s all over it’s far from it, it’s only beginning.
“The world is a cruel place anyway and when you look at the news and see what other people are dealing with you know you haven’t got it too badly.”
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