Sam Riggio

Every day, Sam Riggio takes a few steps closer to his life dream. He wants to play cricket for the Essendon Cricket Club, then work his way into the Victorian team, then play for Australia.

Sam refused to listen when doctors told him he would never walk again. Already, with the help of Aussie Bodies protein, Sam is taking his first steps to a complete recovery and a date with destiny at the MCG.

In 1999, Sam, at 19, was involved in a horrific car accident that nearly ended his life. He suffered a dislocated skull and vertebrae, a broken pelvis, a broken ankle, ruptured spleen, lacerated liver, punctured lung and an injured stomach. The injuries put him in hospital for 14 months.

"The medical staff told my parents I had a 50-50 chance of survival, that I would never walk again and that I would need the use of a ventilator for the rest of my life," Sam reflects.

"I left hospital being able to walk with crutches for approximately 100 metres."

Then, 18 months after his release from hospital, Sam tore the tendons in his left shoulder, requiring an arthroscope and another three months to heal. But he never quite recovered, so within 10 months Sam was back in hospital having mini-open repair surgery.

This time the operation was a success. However his left arm had been severely weakened with the lack of mobility.

"I continued trying to walk at home with crutches and had progressed to just using one crutch in my right arm. Within a month I had torn both the supraspinatus and the subscapularis tendons in my right shoulder.

"My dream of walking was dashed once again. The constant pain and disappointment was taking its toll and wearing me down fast.

"I was at the point where I could no longer use the aid of anything as my shoulders were just too badly damaged. So I said, 'Bugger this, my arms are stuffed. The only way I'm going to get out of this bloody chair is if I try to walk with just the use of my legs.'"

Without any aid, Sam staggered along a bench for a couple of metres – a miraculous effort that was enough to motivate him to keep trying. Sam's physiotherapist put him in touch with Tanya Ingram, a trainer with AFL's Richmond Football Club, who set up a light weights program.

"Sam had severe muscle wastage as a result of his injuries. The purpose of the weight training program was to help rebuild the muscles all over again and reconnect neural pathways," Tanya said.

"But I was finding that Sam was having a very slow recovery rate. He would have a good training day but then be shattered for the rest of the week. We weren't making much progress so I decided to incorporate protein shakes into Sam's diet. From my own experience, I knew that protein powders were very effective for recovery.

"He gave it a go and the improvement was phenomenal. The gym instructors were very impressed with Sam's increased strength and recovery time. He was able now to come in and train on successive days, lifting bigger weights using muscles he had not used for a long time."

Sam then approached Aussie Bodies who decided to sponsor him. Nutritionist Luke Summers first recommended Perfect Protein but then put Sam onto the soy-whey combination of Anytime Protein after it was discovered he had a lactose sensitivity.

Now, almost six years since the accident, Sam is able to walk again. He attributes much of his success to protein.

"I have been taking Anytime Protein since June 2004 and now I'm lifting 85kg on the leg press, 40lb bicep curls and 25kg tricep extensions. I was sceptical at first but once I had loaded up on it, I started making enormous gains.

"I am no longer tired or sore after a workout, my immune system is boosted and to this day, since taking the protein, I haven't been sick even when my family have had the flu. I've lost weight while increasing muscle mass all over."

Lately, Sam has a new mission, one that takes precedence over his cricket aspirations. He has promised to walk his new girlfriend, Stacie, down the aisle.

"I promised I would walk for her no matter what I had to do, what pain I had to put up with, what discipline and hard work. I'd do whatever it takes."

In the next six months, Sam Riggio plans to run seminars as a motivational speaker. If you would like to contact Sam regarding his experience call him on 0409 199 578.

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