Mark Pollock

Pollock was born to Barbara and Johnny He later studied Business and Economics in Trinity College Dublin, where he became a champion schools rower and captain of the university's rowing club but aged 22 he lost the sight in his left eye, resulting in total blindness. In 2010, just weeks before his wedding, Pollock fell from an upstairs window, breaking his back and fracturing his skull. This caused bleeding on the brain and resulted in paralysis. ==Blindness==

Pollock has been blind since the age of twenty-two when his left retina became detached. ==South Pole trek==

Pollock travelled to the South Pole in January 2009. The trek cost Pollock around €250,000. His training included spending time in Norway to acclimatise himself to the sastrugi. Pollock, O'Donnell and Solheim travelled 770 kilometres, averaging fourteen hours journey time each day, while lugging 90 kilo sleds behind them. He pulled a 200lb sled for at least twelve hours each day, for a consecutive forty-three days. Temperatures dropped as low as −50C during the expedition, with the team experiencing blisters, hunger and extreme exhaustion. O'Donnell endured severe frostbite on one ear and fingers, and Solheim lost a filling from his tooth due to the extreme temperatures. Pollock told the Irish Independent that they "just can't believe" they had arrived and that they "only started to believe it was possible when we were one hour away, which was an amazing feeling". He described how they did not know what to do when they arrived, describing "such a burst of energy" that had engulfed them. Pollock returned to Ireland on a 3 February 2009 where he was greeted at Dublin Airport, having been delayed by the extreme weather conditions which gripped Dublin that week. ==Television==

On 7 February 2009, Pollock appeared on the RTÉ One chat show Tubridy Tonight. He hosted the documentary series Yes I Can which aired in November 2011 on Setanta Sports. ==Paralysis==

In July 2010, Mark fell from a second storey window. He broke his back and was left paralysed. He has sought spinal cord injury recovery through aggressive physical therapy and robotic technology. Pollock has embarked on an experimental treatment in an effort to overcome his paralysis in cooperation with an innovative treatment centre in California called Project Walk. In 2015, Pollock sued Enda and Madeline Cahill, his friends and owners of the property he was staying at when he had his fall, claiming the Cahills had disregarded a "reasonably foreseeable risk" of him being seriously injured and that they should have made sure the window remained closed or at least warned him it was open. The court found the couple liable saying he was "satisfied that the Cahills failed to discharge the common law duty of care they owed as occupiers. The open window was a real risk to Mr Pollock. They created that risk". Pollock's lawyers confirmed he had limited his claim to a maximum of £2 million, the limit of the Cahills' household insurance, so the couple did not have to pay out themselves. ==Honors and awards==

In addition to the honorary degree awarded by Trinity College, Dublin mentioned above, Pollock has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Queen's University Belfast, and has been named a Young Global Leader. Mark also was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in 2015 by Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. In 2012, Pollock was honored with a Rehab People of the Year Award. In 2020, Pollock was awarded UCD Alumnus of the Year in Business. ==References==