In January of 2017, Daniel was involved in a three-vehicle crash that instantly changed his life. He recalls the moment he knew something was terribly wrong. “I couldn’t feel my legs,” he shares. “I remember a lady from the ambo telling me, while holding my hand, that everything was going to be OK. All I could say was ‘I can’t feel my legs, it’s not going to be OK.’”
Daniel was on his way to work in Levin, New Zealand when the crash happened.
“I went to work like usual, although that day was the first time my two youngest kids hadn’t been with me in two weeks. Thank God.”
Daniel was air lifted to a nearby hospital, then was later transferred to the Burwood spinal unit in Christchurch. Daniel had broken his back at the T5 and T12 vertebrae. But that wasn’t all. “I broke my clavicle, all my ribs, collapsed my lung, and bruised my heart,” Daniel shares.
With extensive injuries, Daniel suddenly found himself staring down a new path in life. “I thought everyone was against me for about a day, two or three days, just not quite myself,” he recalls. But being able to see and interact with his family again – his partner Jodie and their three children – helped Daniel immensely. “I came to grips with what was going on. And then I just started looking at the positive things, being with my family and kids.”
Daniel spent one month in the hospital recovering from his injuries and learning to deal mentally with the abrupt change in his life. Daniel has chosen to focus on what he has rather than what he’s lost, and this mindset has helped him to move forward.
“It’s been a long road so far but we still have a lifetime to travel the rest. I am very much keeping positive – this is my second chance at life.”