Brave John Walker has pledged to battle on after doctors told him he will never walk again.

Fifteen-year-old John, of Westroyd Crescent, Shipley, suffered horrific injuries when he fell from a railway bridge on to a cable carrying 25,000 volts of electricity.

After he hit the cable near Dockfield Industrial Estate last month, hysterical friends watched as John landed on the rail track, breaking his back.

He was treated in Pinderfields Hospital for burns to his head and legs, then transferred to its spinal injuries ward to begin the long road to rehabilitation.

John, who was studying for his GCSEs at Salts Grammar School, has had lots of messages of support and visits.

He said: "I'm feeling a lot better. I just remember falling backwards off the bridge and hitting the cable. The next thing I remember is waking up on Tuesday morning in the burns unit and trying to get up. I was in a lot of pain at first but it's not so bad now.

"When they told me that I would never walk again I was very upset. The worse thing about being in here is missing my family.

"But I think I've got a battling spirit and I'm determined not to be beaten."

John said he would like to thank a woman called Adele who saw him on the line and called for help while walking her dog.

John's mum, Michelle Walker, 39, said: "It was devastating when they told me he would never walk again. He knows that he's going to be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life - he's not keen on the idea but I think he's coming to terms with it.

"I've got to be a tower of strength for him and my other kids now. He's just a normal 15-year-old lad.

"You hear about things like this happening all the time but you never think it will happen to you. When it does, it's the worst thing imaginable.

"It's going to be upsetting and frustrating for him not being able to do all the things he used to do, like getting out of bed, but that's something he's going to have to learn to deal with."

Staff Nurse Angela Heywood, one of the team looking after John, said: "He's a nice, quiet lad. He's been talking to the other people in the ward who've been through the same thing and I think that will help him come to terms with it.

"I think it will only really hit him when he gets in a wheelchair for the first time."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.