I was blacking out all the time

MY HEALTH EXPERIENCE/KIERAN BEHAN, OLYMPIC GYMNAST:'I had hit my head so hard it was too swollen to scan'

I FIRST GOT into gymnastics through my mum and dad between the age of eight and nine. They wanted to get some energy out of me to stop me from climbing the curtains.

I started to do really well as a little kid. It was noticed early on that I had ability at all pieces in gymnastics particularly the floor. I went to regional competitions in London and national competitions and medalled in all of them.

I was winning gold medals on the floor and something called physical preparation planning which is basically strength and conditioning. I scored a couple of perfect 10s in that when I was younger.

I was also at the Crystal Palace football academy. It was either football or gymnastics, so I chose gymnastics. It is one of those amazing sports where you can go into the gym and learn a brand new element. You are always learning.

At the age of 10 I had my first setback. My family and I noticed that I had a tumour in my left thigh. It had been there for a while and then it started to expand. It was like a little golf ball.

I went to the doctors in hospital. They said I needed surgery immediately. They were very worried that it was cancer, but luckily it was benign.

It should have been routine surgery, but it went horribly wrong. The tourniquet was supposed to be checked every few minutes or so, but the doctors left it on for the entire operation.

When I came out of the hospital I was in severe discomfort. The doctors were unsure about why I was in such discomfort and pain.

They could see that, despite all the painkillers and other drugs I was on, nothing was working.

They ran several tests and found out it was severe nerve damage.

I had to have my leg in a big cage-like thing so that I wouldn’t knock it. Nerves take a long time to recover. I was in a wheelchair for months.

The injury took 15 to 18 months to heal. First I was in a wheelchair, then I had crutches and when I went back to school I had a walking stick. I got a lot of stick, quite literally. I was badly bullied because I was quite short anyway and had a walking stick.

What kept me going was that I just wanted to be an ordinary kid again. I could see everybody else running around.

I was still going into the gym and watching people. I wanted to get back loving the sport again.

When I was 12 I managed to get back into the gym, but no sooner was I back than I fell off the high bar which is 2.8m high.

I was doing some basic elements. I had a freak accident, fell off the bar and came back down on the back of my head.

I suffered brain damage and damage to the vestibular canal which is the balance organ. As you can imagine, it is not very good for a gymnast.

I remember my father bringing me into hospital in his arms. I was drifting in and out at the time.

I finally slipped into unconsciousness in the hospital. When I woke up, my head and neck were strapped to the bed and I was looking up at my mother and father.

I was in that restraint for 2½ weeks. I had hit my head so hard that the back of it was too swollen to scan so I had to stay strapped to the bed until the swelling went down.

As soon as the neck brace and the strapping came off, the doctors realised there was something seriously wrong. It was not a neck injury as first suspected, it was a head injury.

I had to do several neurological tests. It was like a seated rollercoaster with electrodes on my head and I was being spun around.

The problem was rooted in my vestibular canal. It tipped left and every time it did, I would black out. I was blacking out and falling down all the time.

As soon as the strapping was taken off my head, I blacked out again. My body could not adjust visually. If I went outside and trees were blowing in the wind, I’d lose my balance and I would not know where I was. It was like I was walking around drunk all the time.

After nine weeks in hospital, my mother and father had me discharged. In order to be discharged, I had to show I could get into a wheelchair.

That was really tough. Through all of this, I kept the faith. I had so many doctors telling me that I would not be able to walk and I would not be able to do gymnastics again.

I went to see psychiatrists and they kept telling me that I had to come to terms with it. “You’re not going to lead a normal life anymore,” they told me, but I kept just saying that the problem was just at the back of my head.

I was out of the sport for three years. There was intense rehab. Some of it was as basic as looking at a pencil moving, throwing a ball or standing up and sitting down.

I had to persevere. By that stage it was normal life for me, but it was really difficult for my family.

They kept trying to be positive, but behind hospital curtains, they were distraught. I was so determined to get back into gymnastics and to prove people wrong.

Since then I’ve had broken arms, fingers and I had ruptured ligaments in my left leg in 2009.

Last year was my first international year and the first time I went through a whole year without injury.

It was such a massive year for me. It was unreal. I went from being completely unknown to going on the World Challenge Cup circuit and the World Championships in Toyko.

My goal was to take every single competition as it came. I competed in the London Prepares Olympic Test Event earlier this year and qualified for the Olympics.

My father is from Dublin and my mother is from Monaghan. The only reason my parents did not move back to Ireland when I was young was for the gymnastics.

I’m so proud to represent my country and being London-Irish, this is a home Olympics for me. Ireland is going through hard times at the moment and I hope people can take something positive from my story.

My first aim in the Olympics is to do my best. I have proved I can make finals and challenge for medals. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I intend to make the best of it.

Kieran Behan will compete for Ireland on Saturday morning

In conversation with Ronan McGreevy