LAWRENCE Hare today had a special message to fellow stricken speedway rider Kim Jansson - there is life after paralysis.Hare has been in a wheelchair since crashing at Newport in 2002 while Jansson is now coming to terms with not being able to walk again after suffering a similar fate in Sweden on Saturday.

Elvin King

LAWRENCE Hare today had a special message to fellow stricken speedway rider Kim Jansson - there is life after paralysis.

Hare has been in a wheelchair since crashing at Newport in 2002 while Jansson is now coming to terms with not being able to walk again after suffering a similar fate in Sweden on Saturday.

Both are former Ipswich Evening Star Witches riders, and Hare intends to see Jansson and pass on some valuable advice.

“I will speak to him one-on-one and tell him things that will be just between us,” said Hare. “I will leave it a while as he will need his family and close friends around him first.

“It is not the end of the world for Kim. He might feel like that at the moment, but you can still have a decent quality of life.

“It will be a new life, but Kim will be able to choose what he wants to do.”

Hare's partner Lucy helps run a hairdressing salon in Ipswich and he is able to drive and get about on his own despite having no feeling below his chest.

The 38-year-old has proved that his disability is no bar to getting around and he has recently returned from a trip to California with Lucy.

“I hired a car and clocked up over 2,000 miles and saw a speedway meeting at Auburn,” said Hare. “I stayed part of the time with former world speedway champion Billy Hamill and met up with my former Edinburgh team mate Mike Faria.”

Hare revealed that Jansson is likely to have some depressing moments, adding: “There have been times when I have felt really low - in fact lower than low.

“It would be impossible to explain how low you can feel.

“And I am still on pain killers although they have been reduced. Your body produces a back-up system and it tells me when something is wrong in parts that I cannot feel.

“In the parts that you can feel the pain is enhanced.

“But you can get your head round it and you can come to terms with it.”

Witches team manager Pete Simmons, where Jansson used to lodge during his time at Foxhall from 2002 to 2007, is planning to also see the rider who is currently in a Gothenburg hospital.

Jansson also stayed with Ipswich promoter John Louis for long periods, and Louis paid this tribute: “We used to sit for hours after meetings analysing Kim's races.

“He is such an effervescent lad and always has a smile on his face. He lit up every room he entered and everybody at Ipswich speedway is thinking of him and wishing him well.”