Warning: The following article discusses issues around suicide.
Bowler by name, bowler by nature, Craig Bowler will be the very first of Team England’s athletes to compete on the Commonwealth Games stage tomorrow when he takes to the lush lawns of Victoria Park in Birmingham.
However, things could have turned out very differently for the 43-year crown green bowler after a life-changing incident fifteen years ago that left the dad-of-two losing both legs and an arm.
“I didn’t want to be here anymore”
“I was just down all the time, I struggled getting out of bed, going to work,” says Bowler.
“People around me didn’t notice any difference in how I was. I had a good career, lots of friends but something just exploded.
“One morning I just woke up and decided I didn’t want to be here anymore.”
While he survived the attempt to take his own life, Craig spent two months in a coma and his pain-staking rehabilitation included constant physiotherapy sessions that were both draining and challenging.
Here though, he was to meet Abby, the physio assistant who would ice Craig’s legs as part of his recovery, gaining her the nickname, ‘The Ice Queen’.
They are now married, with two children, Max and Tilly, and the proud Bowlers will be in the crowd at Leamington Spa to watch their dad take on Scotland in the Men’s Pairs, alongside Kieran Rollings.
Suicide remains the single biggest killer of men under the age of 45 in the UK but the lawn bowler, who is based at Bridgman’s Bowling Club in Harrold has a twin mission in Birmingham.
Not only is his natural competitiveness hoping to lead him to a gold medal for England, Craig is also hoping to help spread the importance of men’s mental health with emphasis on seeking assistance.
“I have a chance to live again”
“I was given a second chance that’s how I looked at it. It could have ended up one way or the other. I could have gone into depression again, and I didn’t,” he adds.
“Obviously, the medication helped me through bad times and dark times. I just got on with it and thought right from now on, it’s going be tough, but I’ve just got to keep going and be positive.
“Within a year after my accident, a friend’s dad invited me down to the local bowls club. I was like it’s an old man’s game, that sort of stigma.
“So, I went down, I started playing and got good at it, the addictive personality started kicking in, wanting to win and I became really competitive.
“I could have sat in a wheelchair and felt sorry for myself, but I had a chance to live again and every negative I decided to turn into a positive.”
Craig’s story is one of many stories of inspiration at the Commonwealth Games, where issues of inclusion and diversity are often on the agenda.
Sport can often have the power to change lives for the better, with Bowler’s story sure to send a key message to those who are struggling themselves.
“People need to know; men need to know it is okay to talk and it is okay to be sad. And once you get talking, then burdens might lift and advice might be given and hopefully, it can set them down a better path”, says Abby Bowler.
“Because I think what Craig feels, he doesn’t want anyone to feel how he felt at that time in his life. And if he can help people not get to the point that he got to, then he’s winning.”
