Maths teacher who battled brain damage blazes an Olympic trail (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Maths teacher who battled brain damage blazes an Olympic trail

4:40pm Thursday 26th July 2012 in News By Laura Shack

A RESILIENT teacher who suffered brain damage when he jumped for his life from a moving taxi carried the Olympic torch with pride last week.

Former Ampney Crucis and Kingshill School student Mark Hughes was advised to give up his teaching career after he landed on his head while escaping a taxi in America that refused to stop.

The injuries, which he will never full recover from, put Mark in a coma for four days and left him with impaired concentration and confusion over language.

But the 32-year-old Oxford graduate took up running to help focus his mind and now he is back doing what he loves – teaching mathematics to his Surrey-based students.

Mark’s passion for inspiring youngsters is one of the reasons he was chosen as a torchbearer for this year’s Olympic Games.

Olympic selectors said: "Mark is a remarkable character who has overcome his own difficulties in order to still help others. He is the definition of selflessness."

His parents, Sylvia and Andrew Hughes, from Ampney Crucis cheered him on as he carried the flame between Portsmouth and Brighton on July 16.