Aberdeen teen who broke back in sledge accident to climb Eiffel Tower for charity

An Aberdeen schoolboy who broke his back in a sledging accident seven months ago is gearing up to climb the Eiffel Tower for charity.

Filip Cegar, 13, had to learn to walk again after the accident in Peterculter last December - he broke his back and his breastbone. 

Surgeons at Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital had to realign his spine and to prevent any further damage they fixed his spinal cord in place. 

The teenager explains how his accident happened as he said: "We decided to go somewhere we’ve never been before and we closed our eyes and we just rushed down. I just remember this big drop, I feel like I was suspended in the air, before I crashed down into a ditch.”

Filip has now decided to try and put the incident behind him by climbing the 674 steps of the famous Paris landmark to raise funds for the hospital and RACH. 

However, he only had his last operation last Friday where he had the mental removed from his spine. 

The money raised will be used to buy a recliner chair for the hospital’s high dependency unit, which will allow other families to sit by their child’s bedside in comfort. 

He thanked his dad Petar who helped him on his road to recovery by heading to the Kippie Lodge gym and being by his side during the hard moments. 

Filip added: “When I came out of hospital I was really weak, I was really skinny, I lost so much weight and I couldn’t really do anything. But we started going to the gym, me and my dad.

“At first I couldn’t run, I couldn’t hang on to anything, I couldn’t even lie down. At the time we started slowly, slowly pushing on and over a period of six months, I think I managed to get pretty much on par with my original self before the injury.”

The 13-year-old is aiming to raise £2000 and has already received more than £1,000. 

To donate you can visit the JustGiving page here.