Musician Stuart Gillan paralysed in fall near Glasgow Central Station

The audio and acoustic consultant was returning from a business trip to Germany and was on his way to Glasgow Central Station when he simply stepped off the kerb, fell and landed awkwardly.

That day - September 10, 2019 - was the last day he walked and saw him spend nine months in hospital undergoing rehabilitation.

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"I describe it as like a Sliding Door moment - for people who have seen the film - where there was one of these last minute spur-of-the-moment decisions where I walked out of Edinburgh Airport and there was a Glasgow bus.

"I'd never taken the bus so I thought I would do that for a change and that led me to a series of events that has brought me to where I am now."

Mr Gillan arrived in Glasgow and decided to avoid a rush hour train journey home, preferring to stop for a pint in a German beer bar on the city's Bothwell Street.

At that section of the street is a double height kerb, a kerb Mr Gillan had successfully crossed "hundreds of times".

"That day it was getting dark and it was raining," he said.

"It was very wet, and I took a step off the pavement, and for whatever reason, my foot didn't reach the the road. One hand was grabbing onto my bag and my left hand, which was free, didn't go out to break my fall."

He landed in the road, having broken his nose and shifted the position of his jawbone.

"I remember lying there, and I thought I better get up," he said. "I was a bit embarrassed at having fallen."

However, Mr Gillan - a talented musician - was unable to move.

He added: "A really cold wave sensation started at my toes and flooded all the way up through my legs up to my abdomen all the way up to my neck, and I thought, 'That doesn't feel good'."

It was still rush hour and he feared a car or bus might run him over.

"I was thinking, 'Well, this is it'," he added.

"And then someone turned up to try to help me, and I was able to speak again and tell him that I couldn't move."

An ambulance was called and Mr Gillan was taken to A&E at Glasgow Royal Infirmary where his memory of scans and procedures becomes hazy.

His wife, Gillian, was contacted at 11pm that night and rushed to meet her husband at the hospital.

The one thing he does remember, however, is a feeling that he couldn't breath and screaming for help.

He said: "The result of the spinal injury was that my diaphragm muscles don't work anymore, and that's where most people breathe from.

"So I had to breathe with my chest muscles and it was making me panic.

"My wife, who's an ex-nurse, said that she's actually never seen anyone so distressed in her life, including in her career."

After three days in intensive care at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Mr Gillan was transferred to the high dependency unit of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for a two week spell before then moving to the respiratory ward in the hospital's spinal unit.

He said: "If the damage had been only a centimetre higher I would have been unable to breath completely, and I would have had a respirator.

"So from that sense, I was quite lucky."

In total Mr Gillan was in hospital for nine months before being discharged. He and Gillian were forced to move house, however, as their home was over two floors and unsuitable for wheelchair access.

Having repeatedly been outbid for suitable houses, Mr Gillan was declared by social work to be homeless and had to move to a care home while Mrs Gillan stayed with relatives.

The couple have been married for 27 years so being apart was particularly difficult.

The spell in the care home was a low point that left Mr Gillan wondering if he could carry on, a time when his thoughts were particularly dark.

Now, however, four years down the line, he has gained movement back on his left side and can use his left arm and hand well.

"But it's still a difficult process because even now, when things go wrong, it adds to my stress and stress increases the pain a little bit because the muscle tension increases, which then increases my pain.

"So it becomes a psychic side effect, and that's very difficult."

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One bright spot in his recovery was the opportunity to use a standing wheelchair which, at the press of a button, supports the user into an upright position.

It was a powerful experience. He said: "This was the first time in three years I got to hug my wife.

"It felt absolutely incredible. It makes me feel very emotional thinking about it."

Mr Gillan is now, with the help of the charity Aspire, trying to raise £30,000 to pay for a standing wheelchair to assist in his rehabilitation.

Funds raised will also help pay for an electric hoist that can make a standard car accessible to him.

He said: "Then I can travel around like normal and go back to even having trips with my wife to just go out for a drive or maybe go out for lunch."

"In the standing wheelchair I could stand at the bar and have a beer with friends."

On Thursday evening a fundraising concert is being held to raise money for the equipment, thanks to Mr Gillan's close friends in the music industry.

He said: "My job title is an audio and acoustic consultant - supplier of some niche market equipment - but at the core of who I am, I would describe myself as a musician and always have done.

"I played guitar and keyboards since I was about 10 - I didn't have any formal training and almost entirely self taught - but I have incredibly close friends working in music who have organised this event."

So far 275 tickets for the evening, which is being organised by music teacher Craig Smith, have been sold.

Mr Gillan and Mr Smith met in 1988 and were part of a group of musician friends who met every Sunday for what they called the Monty's Breakfast Club and played in various bands.

Mr Smith said: "You drift apart a little bit because everybody gets married and you're not living in quite as close vicinity.

"But we've all stayed very close friends for that whole time.

"Stuart was a sound engineer and one of his biggest claims to fame is that he did a tour with Frank Sinatra and he worked for Shirley Bassey.

"It's just really incredible that something so simple could cause so much damage.

"What happened was a tragedy and we wanted to all do something to help him."

The concert has been a long time in the planning. Mr Smith added: "It dawned on me that actually the close knit group of musician friends made the main cohort of the two bands that we all played in together way back in the day.

"So I thought, 'Well, why don't we just get the bands back together?'"

The Upbeats choir is collaborating with 90's pop/rock band This Lonely Heart and funk/soul band The Groovediggers at Drygate Brewery in Glasgow on March 7.

Tickets are on sale here.