Two years ago, Matt Kinghorn woke up in a CT scanner with no idea what had happened.
The dad-of-two was then told that he had been in a forklift accident.
When a forklift at an Aberdeen laboratory overturned and crushed him, Matt’s colleagues thought he was dead at the scene.
As such, medical staff at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary were worried about what they would find.
However, when staff pulled him out of the scanner, they were confused.
“They said ‘This can’t be right’,” Matt said. “So they put me back under to check again.”
To this day, despite seeming conscious and chatting to the paramedics on the way to ARI, Matt cannot remember anything from before waking up in the scanner.
He said: “This is the bit I remember.
“When they took me out again, the whole atmosphere in the hospital room changed and it became one of light relief and they were laughing and joking.
“The doctor said ‘You got away with it son’ and that’s how it felt.
“The bones weren’t broken which was quite incredible in the accident.”
Matt returned to work sooner to reassure his daughters he was ok
The traumatic incident changed everything for the 42-year-old.
As he recovered and relied on friends and family to help process things, he was inspired to help others recovering and going through the harder things in life.
A year later, the mental health campaigner began offering space for people to talk on beach walks in Aberdeen and went the extra mile – or over 200 of them – recently to raise awareness for the project.
Following the accident, Matt was left with injuries to his ankle, chest and wrist.
After a week in hospital, he recovered at home for a few weeks before Matt decided it was time to return to work making fishing nets.
The dad of Akira, 9, and Sorcha, 6, and keen runner said: “I shouldn’t have gone back to work as soon as I did but I did because my girls thought Dad just had a little bump at work so I wanted them to see my return to work as quickly as they could.
“In hindsight of course I shouldn’t have gone back when I did but I got through.
“It was the first time in my life I hadn’t run in so long. I wasn’t able to run for three to four months I had to hobble around the place. It was like beginning again.”
‘If it still hurts when I sneeze, I know I’m just lucky to be here’
While Matt recovered enough to be able to run, walk and work again as a net rigger, his body is not the same.
“If I sneeze and it hurts my chest, I just accept that’s how it is,” he said. “I’m just lucky to be here and do that.
“I know it’s cliche, like ‘He almost came back from the dead and he sees things differently’, but it’s simplified things.
“It’s made me appreciate more so than ever, to enjoy the company of those that make you smile and do the wee things in life.
“I don’t sweat the small stuff, things don’t impact me the way they did.”
How ‘walk and talk’ began
As he recovered, Matt leaned on friends and family to chat things through.
“I would phone some friends, and we would go for a walk and talk,” he said. “And I can assure you, going for a stroll with 40-year-old man and spending it crying along the way, it’s quite a powerful thing to experience.”
Matt has built up a following on social media over the years with his video poems under the pseudonym Bardy which tend to focus on positivity and promoting positive mental health.
Once he had recovered, he hosted a series of poetry shows and raised almost £2,500 for the NHS, ambulance service and fire brigade in thanks for their response to his accident.
Last year, Matt came up with the idea of holding regular “walkie talkie” events at Aberdeen Beach.
Wanting to let people know they are not alone, Matt turns up at the beach once a month and offers a space for people to chat.
He said: “It’s just people chatting about what’s going on in life and you get this new perspective about what you’re going through.
“We’re all in it together.”
Over 200 miles of walking and hearing people’s stories
This month, Matt took his passion an impressive few steps further.
He took his project on the road from his home in Pitmedden to North Berwick – where a good friend stays – walking over 200 miles in five days from August 5.
Ahead of the walk, Matt let people know the route and invited them to join him for part of it for a walk and talk.
Aside from missing his girls and a painful choice in walking boots, he said he strangely enjoyed the 12-13 hours of walking each day.
He added: “A little bit of me would have happily spent the rest of my days just walking. All I had to do each morning was get up, eat a banana, put on my backpack and walk.”
Throughout the walk, Matt had a sign on his back saying “Keep walking, keep talking” which never failed to spark conversation along the way.
Swapping stories and hugs in Tesco
Sharing his own story as well, Matt found others telling him about what they were going through.
In Tesco when picking up lunch before Dundee, a lady who worked in CAMHS called Denise noticed his sign and spoke to him about her job working with children and young people with their mental health.
She spoke about the problems staff are facing with lack of funding and also losing family members herself over the last year.
“And then I was hugging a lady in Tesco that I met 30 seconds previous,” Matt added. “I feel like people in this world are doing such good things trying to help others.
“A lady is suffering in her life and career and she’s working to help the next generation be okay.
“It was these little parts along the way I thought ‘This is a beautiful thing’.”
‘Every step in the sunshine has got added significance’
These conversations sometimes led to Matt being offered toasties, coffees and beds for the night along the way – which in Arbroath ended up being on a boat.
Finishing the walk with a drink with friends at Fringe by the Sea in North Berwick, Matt said: “Every encounter I’ve had has been positive and full of niceness.
“It’s been so beautiful, it’s going to stay with me forever, the kindness of people and the impact it’s had on me.
“I’ve had a tough time of it recently and doing something simple like that gives me hope and it’s powerful.
“It’s a reminder that we’re all going through stuff in life, but we can all help each other find a way.”
When asked about what was next, Matt replied: “I’m just going to walk and talk in the time I have. I want to show my wee girls that they don’t have to grow up in the way that I did. They can walk and talk freely.
“They won’t have to suddenly be hit with this realisation in their 40s.
“I don’t recommend it as a coping mechanism but nearly getting killed by a forklift can help you deal with what can follow.
“Going forward it’s impossible not to think about it. Every run and every step in the sunshine has got added significance and it’s a joy to do it.
“Over two years on that feeling remains so I’ve got to harbour the good from that experience and not dwell on what might have been.”
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