On 16 September 2001 Daniel’s family were enjoying a nice evening on holiday in Greece.  Suddenly Daniel, aged four, ran out onto the road and in front of a car that couldn’t stop in time and knocked him down. He was treated at a nearby hospital and after two weeks he was flown back to England following a diagnosis of damage to the top of the spinal cord at C2-3.

Because of this injury, he cannot move or feel from the neck down and must use a ventilator to breathe.  

Jillian, Daniel’s mum, saw many Doctors and therapists, who said he will never be able to eat again because he won’t be able to swallow, nor will he speak.  It wasn’t until she connected with Spinal Research that she was able to understand more about spinal cord injury and about why he could eat, swallow and speak. Jillian also realised that one day there would be treatments for the effects of paralysis caused by traumatic spinal cord injury. 

Jillian said “The impact of Daniel’s injury on our lives has been and still is devastating. We just live with it because we have no choice. Daniel deals with it much better than we do, he is 19 now and we cannot believe how strong and brave he is. He is studying at college but it’s difficult as his breathing, lack of bladder and bowel function, and muscle spasms make things that much harder.”