When it comes to fighting on when times are tough, marathon man Simon Lawson has already shown he is a true champion.

Fifteen years ago the wheelchair athlete was paralysed from the chest down in a motocross accident that nearly killed him.

Now he flies off today to represent his country at the Paralympics - with the support of Cumbria behind him.

“Friends, family and all the people all over the county have been really supportive,” he told the News & Star.

“It has been quite overwhelming really.

“Hopefully, I can do Cumbria proud. I will give it my best shot.”

Simon’s journey to represent his nation at the games in Rio caps an inspirational story of how to overcome extreme adversity.

He had been a British schoolboy motocross champion.

But one day in 2001 he was training on a track at the family farm.

Having tackled a jump, he was 10ft in the air when his bike’s engine stalled.

The crash-landing severed his spinal cord.

Simon suffered life-threatening internal bleeding.

He was airlifted to a specialist spinal unit in Middlesbrough and spent a week on a life support machine in a medically induced coma.

But since that day he had battled back to the point of pursuing sporting glory on the biggest stage of all.

Simon, from Maryport, trains six days a week, building strength in the gym and riding miles in his chair.

Now he will spend time away from his work as a mechanic at Jack Horseman Motorcycles on London Road in Carlisle to follow his dream.

He has found all the support he has been receiving in the build-up to the Games “overwhelming” and published a statement on his Twitter account to thank everyone for their support.

The 34-year-old, who regularly trains around Maryport, is aiming to do his best for his county when he competes in the men’s marathon.

This takes place on the final day of the Games – he will compete alongside six-time Paralympic gold medallist David Weir.

He has admitted he did have safety concerns ahead of the Paralympic Games but those fears have been allayed by the ParalympicGB staff.

But in May, work on parts of the Rio Olympic Park and Olympic Village was halted, amid worries for the safety of workers.

Meanwhile, the likes of golfers Jason Day and Rory McIlroy, alongside tennis players Milos Raonic, Simona Halep and Tomáˇs Berdych, missed the Olympic Games through concerns over the Zika virus.

But any safety issues Simon had when he heard about the issues in Rio have been eased by the response of the ParalympicGB staff.

“It was a little bit of a concern when I first kind of heard of it,” Lawson said.

“But a lot of the staff have been out there for quite a while.

“All the British athletics people have said our hospitality and all that sort of thing is good.”

Simon watched last month’s Olympics.

He has been known to train at Carlisle’s Sheepmount Stadium and so is familiar with Cumbrian Olympians Nick Miller and Tom Farrell.

But he will be hoping to fare better than they did during the Olympics as they both failed to qualify for their respective finals.

“I don’t know if the occasion got to them. They were capable of more,” he said.

“Whether it was just performance on the day, everybody has good days and bad days. Maybe, it was just the occasion.

“You have got to try and treat it like any other race.

“I know it is a big thing competing in a Paralympics but, at the end of the day, the race is the same as the marathon we do in London or anywhere else.”

The Rio Games will be Simon’s first Paralympics and his mum will also be in Brazil during the Paralympics on a holiday.

He is coached by Ian Thompson, who trained and is married to legendary Paralympic athlete Tanni Grey-Thompson.

The marathon will start at 4.30pm (UK time) on Sunday, September 18.