adversity TRIUMPH
OVER
Former Leeds United defender Peter Mitchell played four years at the tournament before a life-changing accident ended his promising football career. By Stephanie Bell, Belfast Telegraph
He was the proverbial young soccer star who had the world at his feet.
Then in July 2002, aged just 18, tragedy struck Limavady man Peter Mitchell. A car accident in Leeds smashed his back in two places leaving him paralysed and robbing him of his football career.
But just as one door closed another unexpectedly opened and Peter has once again found himself on the path to stardom, this time as an actor and TV personality.
With no drama training or acting experience behind him, no one has been more surprised than Peter himself at how his new career has taken off and finding himself in a guest role on Coronation Street earlier this year as the character Sinead's new friend Dan was just another of many surreal moments in his life.
Newly married to Brenda and living in Derry, the 31-year-old has also just finished filming his own documentary on disability for the BBC - yet another dream which he feels privileged to be given the chance to fulfil. It is due to air in August.
Speaking during his first real break home in his native city after many months of filming in England, he says he is happier now than he ever believed he could be.
"I feel extremely blessed," he says. "When I had my accident without doubt it was the toughest time in my life.
"I couldn't understand why it had happened as I always trained and worked hard to get that opportunity to play in the Premier League and for it to be taken away so cruelly was something
18
I just couldn't process, it was too much for me.
"Then I met my wife Brenda and life
started making sense again. Then the acting chance came along and it's just been incredible. Every job I get I fall in love with it and I just loved doing Coronation Street, it is an institution in itself and we all grew up with it and to be part of it was just unbelievable."
Peter has also appeared in Cast Offs and the popular Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks.
His story is remarkable, with fate throwing the very best and the very worst at him. Its many unexpected twists started in his childhood. He grew up in Limavady in a family of talented footballers. His maternal grandad Jim Mitchell played for Northern Ireland Youth, Derry City and Linfield and had the chance to go to England to play with Blackburn Rovers.
Peter says he was kicking a ball before he could walk. "Football was in my blood. Any photos there are of me as a child, I've always got a football in them.
"I played for Newtown Youths in Limavady and in the summer League for Limavady Youths. I was playing for Institute in Derry when I got scouted. When I was 14 I went to Wolverhampton Wanderers for six months. Going across the water was always my aim and to be going there at 14 as a young boy from Limavady was just crazy.
"I always admit I wasn’t the most technically gifted footballer but I was a wee grafter. I always trained harder than everyone else. I worked very hard to achieve what I did. It just goes to prove what you can achieve if you set your mind to it.”
"I was with Leeds for three years before my accident. I still miss football every day."
Peter recalls the day his life suddenly changed on July 21, 2002, aged just 18.
He remembers it as a beautiful sunny day and along with four Irish lads, he had gone for a drive to the local shop.
They were on their way back when the car hit the side of the road at 60mph and catapulted over a hedge into a golf course, somersaulting and landing on its roof.
While his friends smashed the windows and crawled out, Peter instantly feared the worst, as he found himself struggling to breathe and couldn't move.
Peter was quickly transferred by air ambulance from hospital in Leeds to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast and then to Musgrave Park Hospital for rehabilitation. Because he was so fit he was able to go home after just 10 weeks.
He put on a brave face for the sake of his devastated family - parents Karen and Peter and younger brother Ciaran - even though he really struggled to accept that his dreams had been shattered.
"I knew my football career was over, but I thought I would have a chance of walking again," he says.
"I asked the specialist in Musgrave and that's when I realised I was going to be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. It put me back to square one again. It was extremely tough to deal with, it's just out of your hands, and it's heartbreaking.
"I didn't show my true feelings to my family because they found it hard enough to deal with.
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