A month ago defending AORC champion and one of Australia’s brightest young off-road hopes, Toby Price, suffered a massive crash in the US that saw him break his neck and come within millimetres of becoming a quadriplegic.

Now back home in the Hunter Valley, MotoOnline.com.au caught up with the 25-year-old to find out exactly what happened, the struggles he’s facing, and if he thinks he’ll ever ride again.

Toby, thanks for having a chat to us, mate. How’s the recovery going?

It’s going really well. My doctor, Paul Lucina, is really pleased with my recovery. I’m in the light stages of physio now and have a little bit of movement in my neck and thumb, but I’ve got another appointment in three or four weeks. From there we can hopefully get a rough idea of how I’m going and if I can get out of this neck collar. It’s going to be a long recovery process.

Toby Price was the form man of the Australian Off Road Championship prior to his crash. Image: Greg Smith/iKapture.

So what exactly happened? You were racing a desert race, yeah?

Initially the trip was to practice for the Baja 500 race. I arrived in the US a few days after rounds 3-4 of the AORC, then the next day the team said they had a fuel-injected KTM 450 they were trying to set up for desert racing. They asked me if I could ride it and give them some feedback, seeing as I’d been riding a similar bike testing at Finke.

I agreed, even though it wasn’t really what I had flown over for. I rode a round of the Hare and Hound series about half an hour out of Palm Springs, CA in the desert and that’s when things turned to crap.

Do you remember anything from your crash?

Nothing. The only thing I remember is getting loaded into the chopper afterwards. Some of the riders have filled me in with what happened though – I was cruising along in second place behind Kurt Caselli when I had the crash. The guy in third saw it happened and pulled over to see if I was okay, and I said I was fine and got back on the bike.

The fourth-placed rider passed me and then crashed so I rode over to him and said “I don’t know where I am” and asked him for directions. He told me to get off the bike and sit down as he thought I might be concussed.

He turned around and the next thing he saw was me about 40m away walking out towards the middle of the desert! He stopped me and made me lie flat on the ground until help arrived. I was really lucky that stroll or the ride didn’t do more damage to my neck.

Damn that’s crazy! How close did you come to being paralysed from the crash?

It’s weird because I got some scans done straight away and they put me in a halo system to keep me stable. Everyone said I was extremely lucky and that I shouldn’t have any movement, but I didn’t actually see any scans until I got back to Australia. I was shocked when I checked them out – my C7 is practically touching my spinal cord and if it had gone just a fraction further I’d be paralysed from the neck down.

Toby Price is all style on a dirt bike, no matter the capacity or configuration. Image: Greg Smith/iKapture.

The doctors in the US called me Mr Lucky and couldn’t believe I didn’t have any numbness or tingling sensations. Still, being in that halo and in traction with a 40-pound weight hanging off the back of my head was torture. It felt like it was going to rip my head off.

You spent a bit of time in the US hospital, but ended up coming back to Australia for surgery. Why didn’t you just get it all sorted in California?

The American doctors were keen to operate on me, but my insurance fell through in Australia. I took insurance out before I flew over, but when the crunch came the company refused to pay out, they said the fine-print stated that unless I was either riding on the road or taking part in a foot-race I wasn’t covered.

I was stunned and felt like I’d been cheated, you know? The US surgeons were still keen to operate, but they said it was going to cost about $450,000.

What?! As in nearly half a million dollars?

I know! I was like, “I know my health’s important, but I can buy three houses in Australia for that price”. I wasn’t willing to take out such a huge loan when I could do the same operation in Australia for a fraction of the price, so they sent me out the door and I flew home with the halo system on.

I landed in Brisbane on Anzac Day and went straight to hospital. A couple hours later Dr Paul Lucina, who was actually supposed to have a day off that day, had organised a team of surgeons and ordered some new steel hardware to be flown up from Sydney. By 2:00pm I was asleep and under the knife.

What did your operation entail?

They operated on my C6, C7 and T1 vertebrae and put the rods and screws in place and it all went really well. My fractured thumb hasn’t been addressed as the bone is still in place and it’ll heal with time. It’s just a bit stiff at the moment.

Price shared this image on his Facebook fan page of an x-ray taken after his operation.

Now I’m back at my home in the Hunter Valley chilling on the lounge and exercising my neck and thumb lightly twice a day to get some movement back into it. It still feels like I’ve got a bus parked on my back, but in a month’s time the pain will hopefully subside and I’ll start feeling normal again.

Great stuff. Now, the questions everyone is asking are when do you think you’ll be back riding, and will you ever return to competitive racing?

The doctor said if everything goes well I should be back on a bike by October-November. I was surprised to hear him give me such an early recovery time and realistically I thought it’d be February or March next year.

I’ll see how I feel in October and play it by ear, but there’s not much racing left in the season. In November is the Baja 1000 but that’s a long shot at best. I’d love to do it if I’m healthy, but I’m not going to rush anything or waste KTM’s money.

So you aim to return to the same riding level you were at?

Definitely. Since day one of this injury I’ve wanted to get back on the bike and race again. I want to be competitive and win more championships. I know having metal weakens the bones around my neck but I can’t think of that, even though the spine is important. I’ve gotta have a good crack at it.

I’m treating this as just a bump in the track. There are sections of Finke that are tougher than this and I’m not going to let it scare me off.

Price hopes to return to racing at the same ultra-competitive level as soon as he can. Image: Greg Smith/iKapture.

How’s the support been from the motorcycle industry?

It’s been astounding. I didn’t expect anything like this. I knew I had a few fans and supporters out there, but in the US I’d wake up to 30 inbox messages a day from everyone wishing me the best. It means the world to me that people have had my back since day one. I had friends set up a recovery fund without me knowing and I want to thank everyone who’s donated to that.

The support has been worldwide from the motocross, enduro and even the road-racing communities. Apparently the MotoGP sent me a public well-wishing at the start of one of their races, which blew me away. I didn’t see myself that well-known and I can’t fathom it really. It’s times like this that really show much how close-knit the motorcycling family is and I’m humbled by everyone’s support.

Awesome. Thanks for the chat, Toby. All the best for the recovery and we’ll touch base with you again soon.

Thanks mate, appreciate it!