'I was in a coma but now aim to race for Team GB'

Lewis Fletcher has no recollection of his accident that left him in a coma just 17 months ago.

An aspiring BMX racer, he was training in Gravesend, Kent, when his bike's forks snapped, sending him head‑first into the concrete in September 2024.

Lewis, now 18 and a student at the University of Derby, suffered a seizure, four bleeds on the brain, spent three days in a coma and two weeks in intensive care.

His cycling career looked over, but his long way back began when he came round.

After coming through bouts of depression and learning to properly talk again, he suffered from cognitive fatigue. After speaking to friends for an hour, he said he would be so exhausted he would fall asleep for hours on end.

But despite his traumatic injury, Lewis is now back on the bike. He has swapped the BMX ramp for the velodrome and hopes to break into the Team GB set up.

"It was a long recovery, when I got back to school it was still hard. I struggled with speech, which I still do sometimes," he told the BBC.

"I've not been on a BMX track since the accident, but now I've thrown myself into track cycling, I love it...I wish I'd started it earlier."

Lewis, from Dartford, Kent, said he spent four months off school and had to drop an A Level, which later meant the University of Nottingham could no longer offer him a scholarship.

He was "extremely grateful" when the University of Derby offered him a scholarship instead.

Lewis said he started track cycling a short time before his accident but "didn't take it seriously".

He recently secured a 200 metre sprint personal best of 10.344 seconds and is still improving. He told the BBC he wants to progress on to the British cycling pathway and "compete at the highest level".

"I've been around bikes all of my life, I love racing and the mentality you have to be in, I absolutely love it.

"Hopefully, in the next few years, I want to get into the GB setup, fingers crossed..."

Despite what he had been through, Lewis said he felt right at home again jumping back on the bike.

"A lot of people said I would be quite scared, but I surprised myself, as I didn't feel scared," he said.

"Because I've had memory loss, I don't remember the accident at all...what I'm recalling is from what other people told me - it's like I almost didn't live that experience, but I obviously did.

"But my mum was absolutely terrified, I remember her telling me she was not enjoying me being back on a bike."

But Lewis said his dad was delighted he was back doing what he loved and recalled the "bond" they shared travelling around the UK and to BMX races in the Netherlands and Belgium.

He also praised his coach at Beeston Cycling Club for helping him get to where he is now.

Asked about his plans for the future, Lewis said getting on the Team GB squad remained the goal moving forward "in the next few years".

"I just need to keep the same trajectory going forwards."

Lewis also said he was looking for people to sponsor him moving forward as track cycling was an "expensive sport".

"I would be so grateful if someone could sponsor me on my journey, things like that go a long way for someone trying to find their way in this sport."

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