I first read about Daniel Nicholls in YOU magazine and felt so moved by his story, I invited his dad David to come into Five News to talk about his son on our lunchtime programme.
On December 30th 2003, Dan was enjoying the fifth week of his gap year on Australia’s Bondi Beach. Standing in water up to his knees, he dived into a wave unaware of a hidden sandbank below the surface. The force of the dive broke his neck and, at the age of 19, Dan was paralysed.
In those few seconds, his world was shattered. He’s paralysed from the arms down with very little movement in his hands, and spends month on end on bed rest due to terrible bedsores. Sadly Dan’s accident is a common one, but there are no warning signs on these beaches for fear of frightening off tourists.
Dan spent a year at Stoke Mandeville Hospital undergoing extensive physio and occupational therapy until he was ready to move into a specially built house with 24 hour a day care. Throughout this time his father David – head chef at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel – set out to find out all he could about spinal injury.
He soon realised research is poorly funded, and decided to set up a charity to raise vital money to help find a cure for some forms of spinal injury. The aim is to help get Dan, and people like him, some movement back.
I’m honoured to be a founder patron of the Nicholls’ Spinal Injury Foundation (NSIF), and feel inspired to do all I can to help raise the Foundation’s profile as well as cash. The mhoula team will donate £5 of each subscription to the charity.
Many of David’s celebrity friends have become patrons, including Gordon Ramsay, Gary Rhodes, Heston Blumenthal, Gary Lineker, and rugby stars Austin Healey, Will Greenwood and Martin Johnson.
Eamonn Holmes, Sir Richard Branson and Sir Alex Ferguson have come on board. We host a number of events throughout the year, and are currently looking forward to Gary Lineker and Austin Healey appearing on ITV’s Celebrity Who Wants to be a Millionaire for us this winter.
For more information on the charity, and to read Daniel’s brilliant blog, go to www.nichollsfoundation.org.uk.
Helen