Archive - Friday, 12 April 2002


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Sports fan David beats all the odds

LIFE in a wheelchair knows no bounds for sports-mad David Durston who still enjoys an active life since facing permanent paralysis in 1999.

David, 34, from Cirencester, had an accident in a swimming pool three years ago whilst on holiday in France.

"I dived in and got all the way to the middle of the pool before hitting my head on the bottom," he said.

"It caught my tooth and my head turned. The weight of my body broke my neck and back. I was instantly paralysed."

David was pulled out of the pool and taken to the intensive care unit of a hospital in France where he spent the next 10 days.

Afterwards he was transferred to a hospital in England where he spent 11 months recuperating.

"It was bit of a shock when I found out I was permanently paralysed.

"It was quite a frightening prospect. Life was turned on its head."

David had time to think about his future and how his life would be affected financially.

He said his wife Amanda was very supportive throughout the whole period and coped well.

His three-year-old daughter Zoe was too young at the time to remember anything.

"For the first four months in hospital I was on a bed rest because the operation site caught an infection. I had three operations in the neck ."

But David wanted to travel to a Rugby World Cup match and the tickets provided an incentive to get better.

Today, with help from the Back-Up Trust, a national charity, David is able to take part in many sporting activities.

"The trust is an organisation that makes activities otherwise inaccessible to spinally injured men and women accessible."

David was employed by EHS Brann when the accident took place and his employer kept him on afterwards, enabling him to work 15 hours a week as an accountant.

He plays wheelchair rugby twice a week in Cardiff and has tried his hand at tennis.

David has taken part in special summer and winter programmes arranged by the trust where he has been able to do abseiling, canoeing and kayaking.

"Sometimes things can get frustrating," he said.

"Everything has to be arranged. I can't just get up and go.

"But there are benefits, I get to see my family more."