My name is Jamie Mckechnie and I live to ride BMX.
I got my first bike when I was about 15 and never looked back. It was my way of escaping all the shit in my area of South London, all the crime and violence that the other kids were getting into. I was more interested in riding my local skate part in Downham and it was here that I met my friends for life, through riding BMX.
But in 2011 when I was 24 years old, my story took a turn for the worst when I was randomly assaulted on a night out with my mates and with a single punch to the back of my head, my whole world changed.
I was in taken straight to Kings College Hospital in Camberwell and put in a medically induced coma for the next 6 weeks. It then took about 5 months altogether before I fully woke up and started talking and that's when my journey to recovery started.
I spent the next year in a specialist nuero-rehab hospital and even though at the time I was getting around in a wheelchair, my long term goal was always to get back on my bike. So in summer 2012, when I was finally discharged, I celebrated with my mates holding a BMX jam at Stockwell skate park. But it killed me that I couldn't ride with them at the time.
I had to work hard on my physio, and getting used to the change in my physical ability; accepting that I had a disability, which was the hardest thing. But gradually over the next 2 years, my mobility improved until I could finally walk with just a stick. And then in 2014 I started riding again. I just felt ready one day to get back on my BMX and ride down the road and I haven't stopped since then.
Just being able to ride my bike, even though I can't do tricks like I used to, makes me feel so free.
I was always called Ghetto by the boys at the skate park because I used to wear tracksuit bottoms and hoodies and I had a big mouth! So when I was in hospital, my mate Ryan made everyone Ghetto BMX t shirts .
When I started volunteering at Pedal It bike shop in Lee, they made me part of the family and offered to give me a chance to start Ghetto BMX as a business, bringing BMX to the kids of South East London. I wanna get kids riding and make a scene they can be part of and get passionate about.
This is just the start so watch this space!
ABOUT GHETTO BMX
