A FIREFIGHTER being treated for severe spinal injuries he suffered in a mountain bike accident has spoken of his determination to recover and rediscover his favourite hobby.

Peter Lau was nearly killed when his bike collided with a car in April. He broke 11 ribs, fractured his scapula and endured massive spinal damage.

Emergency medics had to induce a coma to protect his lungs and the 48-year-old remained in that state for almost a month.

But despite his tough recovery, the Assistant District Commander for West Yorkshire’s Fire and Rescue Service maintains a positive outlook and is determined to get back into his favourite pastime, scuba diving, with the British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC) before the anniversary of his accident.

"It is my main passion. It’s just brilliant and it takes you all round the world. I’m a qualified instructor with BSAC so I’ve made sure my wife can dive too, and the kids.

"But I was doing less of it during the winter so took up mountain biking to keep my fitness up. I’ve been a firefighter for 24 years so you do have to maintain a certain fitness level."

Mr Lau, from Queensbury, was with friends from the fire service and scuba diving club when the accident happened.

"We were out in Wensleydale and I came down this downhill section at about 30mph and went through a gate and skidded into a car coming the opposite way.

"My back took most of the impact and my rucksack, we think, caught in the wheel pulling me under it," he said.

"I knew it was bad and I had punctured both lungs so it was hard to breathe. When you do dive training you learn how to take ‘sip breaths’ that have less impact on the lungs so I did that and I really think that knowing that, remembering something I’d learnt in 1990, is what sustained me until the air ambulance could get there."

He came out of the coma in early June and was transferred to Pinderfields Spinal Rehabilitation Centre, where he is still being treated.

Mr Lau, who is wheelchair-bound and paralysed from the chest down, has been involved in watersports as much as possible during his stay at the unit and has even established a snorkelling club, which will operate out of the hydrotherapy pool on site.

A friend has donated masks and snorkels and Mr Lau is considering a try-dive in the pool.

He said the thought of getting back under the water was keeping him focussed.

"I am well ahead of where I should be in recovery because I’m pushing myself hard but I’m having to learn different ways to use my body. Different muscles have to control things now, it’s all about my core strength and upper body.

"I’ve promised myself I’ll be back in the water within a year of the accident and the doctors have said my lungs are fit now. I’ll have to be hoisted in and out, but other than that I just need to get on with it," said Mr Lau.

"I have my wife, Debbie, two kids, Hannah, 25, and Peter, 21, and two grandchildren and I very nearly killed myself that day. The fact that I am still here is a pretty big positive."

BSAC is the national governing body for scuba diving. Its chief executive, Mary Tetley, said: "We wish Peter all the very best with his recovery and feel sure his brilliant, positive attitude will help him reach his goal of getting back to his much-loved scuba diving."