I fell in love with a man I saw on The Undateables – we can have sex like any couple, but there are challenges
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PARALYSED at just 17, George Dowell MBE, from West Sussex, believed his life was over. Here, George and his partner Jessikah Lopez, both 32, reveal how he rebuilt his life by buying his favourite football club, before they found love after meeting online.
![[George Dowell and his partner Jessikah Lopez, both 32, reveal how he rebuilt his life following George's paralysis]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Sun_Instagram_image_download_null_174216jpg-JS950714344.jpg?strip=all&w=768)
Lying in a hospital bed, trying to come to terms with the news I’d never walk again, I wanted to die. Everything I loved and had planned had been ripped away from me. In 2010, when I was 17, I was left paralysed from the chest down after a car I was a passenger in crashed.
![[Dad George with daughter Bonnie]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Sun_Instagram_image_download_null_94849jpg-JS950714429.jpg?strip=all&w=768)
A keen footballer, my dream was to play semi-professionally while working as a firefighter after I finished college. When a consultant told me a few days later that I would need a wheelchair for the rest of my life, I was devastated. It was a really dark time.
![[George loved football as a child]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Sun_Instagram_image_download_null_125721jpg-JS950714353.jpg?strip=all&w=768)
I spent 10 months in hospital having physio, trying to prepare for life as a disabled person, both practically and emotionally. Then, I moved into an adapted bungalow with my mum Linda, but I struggled to adjust. My self-confidence was low, I hated it if people stared at me with pity, and it wasn’t always easy to socialise because many venues weren’t wheelchair-accessible, all of which made me withdraw and instead stay at home playing computer games.
![[George, pictured with his family, says: 'I felt so lucky that Jessikah wanted to be with me']](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Sun_Instagram_image_download_null_94916.jpg?strip=all&w=768)
I had great support from my then-girlfriend, who I’d been with since before the accident, as well as my friends – but while they were out working, going on holiday and clubbing, I felt like my life was going nowhere. In 2014, my relationship ended and I worried I may never have another.
![[George posing with wife Jessikah by the Premier League trophy]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Sun_Instagram_image_download_null_95143jpg-JS950714441.jpg?strip=all&w=768)
