Slowly my movement returned and the pain lessened, until, by the time I left the center some eight months after the accident, I really was on the mend. I knew I was getting better when I sneaked out one night, caught a train home, collected my 1200 cc motorbike, and, still strapped up in my metal back brace, rode the bike back to Headley Court before dawn. The nurses would have gone nuts if they could have seen me, but my motorbike was my independence--and the risky-but-successful mission also meant my spirit was returning. I was smiling again.