PARALYSED, in agonising pain, and confined to bed for six years, martial arts expert Andy Channer was told he would never walk again.

But this amazing man has defied all the odds, not only learning to walk again, but becoming a personal trainer and sports massage therapist.

Andy, 36, of Canford Heath, has been doing karate, kick boxing and Aikido since the age of 12, achieving black belts across the disciplines.

His expertise led to work as a bodyguard and teaching unarmed combat to Royal Marines.

But at just 22, he damaged a disc in his spine heavy lifting in a factory.

Over time his movement got worse, until he relied on walking sticks to get around.

Then, on the night before the new millennium, as he prepared to go out, he slipped as family members helped him out of the bath and something went badly wrong He said: "It felt like someone had snipped my spine at the bottom - it went red hot then I didn't have any feeling in my legs - I couldn't feel a thing."

Paralysed from the waist down, Andy was admitted to Poole Hospital.

He remained there for two and a half years.

Despite endless tests to determine what was wrong, nothing helped and he was sent home, still bed-bound.

"Doctors told me I doubt you'll ever stand or walk again' - they didn't think that would ever be possible," said Andy.

"I was feeling very very down.

"All that fitness was taken away, time went on and on - but I tried to do all my martial arts training in my head - no one can touch you in there - and my mind got stronger."

Then, by some miracle, another slip when he was getting out of bed began to bring the feeling back.

Unfortunately, after so many years languishing in bed using a pillow under his knees to ease the pain, Andy's legs had frozen at 60 degrees.

Undeterred, in 2005 he began a course of painful manual manipulations at a London practice, but disaster struck during the last session.

Both his legs were broken in a number of places, and he had to return to hospital for surgery to reset the bones with metal pins and plates.

Despite this devastating blow, Andy didn't give up.

Sent home to recuperate, he dragged himself through rehabilitation alone.

He said: "I did all the exercises I could think of on my own.

"I got a rotary bike at the bottom of my bed and three or four times a day I'd force my legs round to keep them going.

"It was very very painful and very very slow - but I'm the sort of person if you put a big brick wall in front of me I'll either go over it or through it - I'll never stop.

"It didn't matter how many people in the hospital told me I wasn't going to do it - in my head I was never going to give up."

Last year he completed a diploma in personal training and sports massage and took up a job at Fitness First in Poole.

And over the past 12 months he has pushed himself from scarcely being able stand to daily training.

While his poor balance and ongoing pain mean he still is confined to a wheelchair most of the time, Andy is able to demonstrate every piece of equipment in the gym to clients, and walks up and down stairs for half an hour a day.

"I try not to think too much about the past," he said.

"I try to take life each day as it comes - every day is more special as I'm doing more than everybody expected I could.

"People say I'm a big inspiration to them - and that's very humbling.

"I want to help other people who've been told - you can't do that.

"I want to show them it can be done."