A Norfolk potato consultant has won national praise after battling back from horrific head injuries he suffered in a 30ft fall four years ago - including retraining his sense of smell.
Tim Kitson shattered his skull, thigh bone and wrist after plunging from an elevated walkway onto the concrete floor of a potato store which he was inspecting in November 2019.
The seven fractures to his skull caused a bleed on the brain - with one of the lasting effects being an altered sense of smell.
Mr Kitson said it is vital to his work as an independent potato store manager to be able to identify potato rots and diseases by using his nose.
So while he gradually regained his physical mobility and the confidence to work safely at heights again, he also had to systematically re-learn all these smells again from scratch.
This determination and attention to detail was recognised with a national prize at the British Potato Awards earlier this month.
Mr Kitson, 50, who lives at Cantley, said: "The physical and emotional challenges after my accident, including the loss of smell and the loss of mobility, made me aware that I needed to do something different.
"I don't smell the same way other people do. Nothing smells like it should do any more.
"Farmyard manure smells like roses to me, but citrus fruits, the acid smell coming off an orange, is really painful. It is strange - perfumes and aftershaves do nothing any more for me, but I can pick up chemicals in drinking water really clearly.
"Working in potato storage, the humidity, the temperature and the smell are all very important, the different types of volatiles coming off these potato rots smell very differently. So losing that knowledge and starting again was hard.
"Ever since the accident I have been picking up different types of rots and retraining my brain to tell it what these things are.
"The first year I was useless, I didn't know anything. But now I can go back into the store and understand what is happening.
"I am still learning and retraining my brain, but my client base has remained very loyal to me and I can only thank them for that."
Mr Kitson said he also struggles with some simple numerical calculations after the accident.
"It takes a lot to get me down," he said. "There have been some very dark times and I still struggle with very simple calculations, counting boxes and stuff like that, but I work my way through it.
"And I am useless as a chef because I cannot follow the instructions for a recipe.
"It is not a perfect world, but it is not a bad place to be. I am happy with my personal and professional life, I am in a good place and that is only through the support of my family and friends and the fantastic people I work with."
Mr Kitson said his recovery is still an "ongoing situation" and that he "wouldn’t have got this far" without the support of his friends, colleagues and family - including his wife Ali and three children, Natasha, Ross and Ralph.
He also praised his colleague Tom Springall, who stepped up to "fill in the gaps" during six months of recuperation after the accident.
Mr Kitson won the "Storage / Refrigeration Achiever" category at the British Potato Awards.
An awards submission from one of his clients, frozen potato products manufacturer Lamb Weston, praises his ability to "get under the skin" of storage sites, supporting the development of new technology and "never being afraid to go against the accepted norm" - all while "maintaining a positive outlook despite some dramatic challenges both professionally and personally."
Other Norfolk successes at the British Potato Awards included Happisburgh-based firm Crop Systems, whose SmartSola system won the environment and sustainability class, while the company was also highly commended in the storage and refrigeration class won by Mr Kitson.
Crop Systems managing director Ray Andrews said: “We are delighted with both of these awards.
"There is a huge amount of innovation happening in the potato industry at the moment so to be judged the ‘best of the best’ is terrific."
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