Abu Dhabi<\/a> Cycling Club and is now sponsored by property firm Modon.<\/p>\nAbdullah also competed alongside cyclists without disabilities and reached the podium in local races, his father said. The nickname “The Don’ came from how much respect those in the cycling community have for him.<\/p>\n
Gearing up<\/p>\n
\u201cHe competes against cyclists without disabilities in his age group,\u201d Mr Al Shamsi said. \u201cHe gets good results and, Alhamdulillah, he has reached the podium.\u201d<\/p>\n
He recalled an occasion when a coach made other cyclists move away from Abdullah as they waited at a starting line.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbdullah threw down his bicycle and just stood there looking at him,\u201d he said. \u201cOther people noticed what had happened and were upset by it.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the experience did not stop him from continuing with the the sport. Abdullah\u2019s cycling career was thrown into doubt after a high-speed crash late last year left him with a serious pelvic injury.<\/p>\n
His father said several cyclists collided and Abdullah tried to avoid them before falling heavily.<\/p>\n
Because Abdullah has difficulty communicating verbally, the seriousness of his injuries was not immediately apparent. \u201cThey thought he just had injuries from the fall,\u201d Mr Al Shamsi said. \u201cI knew something wasn\u2019t right.\u201d<\/p>\n
His father drove him to Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City. \u201cEvery movement of the car hurt him,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s very difficult. He\u2019s your son. He\u2019s in front of you in pain and you don\u2019t know what to do for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr Joseph Alsousou, chairman of the Orthopaedics Division and consultant orthopaedic and trauma surgeon at SSMC, said Abdullah had suffered a significant injury.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbdullah was cycling when he had an accident. He is a champion and sustained a high-energy fall from his bicycle, leading to a fracture of his pelvis and acetabulum, which is the cup of the hip,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The fracture extended into Abdullah\u2019s right hip joint and caused severe pain. Doctors also noticed a change in the teenager\u2019s behaviour after the accident.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt affected him badly from a psychological and trauma point of view,\u201d Dr Alsousou said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he was unable to express his pain, he was crying and withdrawing from people. He felt he couldn\u2019t go back to his bicycle, which is his life. His life is all about cycling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Back on the bike<\/p>\n
Doctors used detailed 3D imaging to establish the extent of Abdullah\u2019s injuries.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fracture was significant, affecting his pelvis and extending into his hip joint,\u201d Dr Alsousou said.<\/p>\n
Doctors could have allowed the fracture to heal naturally, but that would have significantly delayed Abdullah\u2019s return to walking and cycling. The alternative was surgery.<\/p>\n
After discussing the options with Abdullah and his father, the medical team opted for a minimally invasive procedure in January.<\/p>\n
Surgeons inserted screws through small incisions to compress and stabilise the fractures, using advanced imaging to guide their placement.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur aim as a team was to relieve his pain and restore his function so he could get back on his bicycle with minimal interruption to his daily life,\u201d Dr Alsousou said. \u201cThe following day after surgery, he stood up.”<\/p>\n
Abdullah spent two days in hospital before returning home.<\/p>\n
When he returned for a follow-up appointment a week or two later, he walked into the clinic alongside his father.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat showed the significant improvement in his pain and function,\u201d Dr Alsousou said.<\/p>\n
For the surgeon, the case was memorable not simply because of the seriousness of the fracture but because of what cycling meant to Abdullah.<\/p>\n
\u201cI noticed that he was withdrawing because of the pain. He wasn\u2019t talking. He wasn\u2019t himself,\u201d Dr Alsousou said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing him come back to the clinic, walking with his dad, was the highlight. It was amazing to see him back to normal after such a significant injury.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen, throughout his clinic visits, we watched him regain his function, get back on a bicycle and now return to competition.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Abdullah and his father, getting back on the bicycle is no longer the only goal. Mr Al Shamsi is now preparing his son for endurance events and hopes to expand his sporting career into triathlon.<\/p>\n
Abdullah has strong endurance and is particularly suited to longer cycling distances of more than 30km, his father said.<\/p>\n
Mr Al Shamsi said his son also has some traits on the autism spectrum, particularly a tendency towards repetition, which he believes can be channelled positively into the repetitive training required for endurance sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people may see that as a difficulty, but we\u2019re trying to use it as an advantage in sport,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The family has travelled to Germany to try different training methods and are looking at international competition. One potential target is a Special Olympics competition in Chile, where the altitude would present another challenge.<\/p>\n
Mr Al Shamsi said Abdullah would need to be properly prepared and acclimatised before competing there. <\/p>\n
But for a father who was once told his son\u2019s abilities were limited, his ambitions for Abdullah extend beyond races, podiums and medals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A young Emirati known as “The Don” in the UAE cycling community has made a remarkable comeback from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":853887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[2226,49,48,635,88006,82,2225,1320,15797,46173],"class_list":["post-853886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-abu-dhabi","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-emirati","tag-sports","tag-standard","tag-story","tag-uae","tag-uae-desk-team"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}