Hi, my name is Dan Nicholls.
I knew following my accident that my dad and all his friends were on a mission but I had no idea the support was so great and the web site looks amazing.
I am not too much of an IT wizard, and currently I am on bed rest with two nasty pressure sores, one on either hip. I have been like this for just over two years and almost there now so I will be up soon. I have season tickets to Arsenal so I am looking forward to going to the games soon.
I think Dad thinks that because Sir Alex Ferguson is a patron I will support United, they can be my second team, I have to say they look great at the moment!
I am really proud of what people have done for the charity as I hope that one day they will find a cure where I and people like me will walk again. I am really sure they will one day it is just when. I also think the work of people like the Professor Geoffrey Raisman is really amazing, so watch the website as they will give updates on his progress I am told.
I am so grateful to everyone that I don’t know where to start the chefs have been amazing to the Charity, my dad and also to me. So I would have to say thanks to them. Look at the recipes and the book Off Duty is even better and has raised a packet for the charity, which is good.
My days are fairly routine as anyone in this position will know. I have a good care team around me and they know my routine, I have physio almost every other day and that helps. Life is always made easier by the support of my family and especially my brother Dean, he is amazing and is an expert now on spinal injury.
I guess like all people no one chooses to break their necks or back, it is a very selective club that no one wants or chooses to be a member of but when you are it really changes you life completely. I have good days and bad days but fortunately much more good than bad. Especially as about a year ago I saved a dog from Battersea, he is a staffy called Jacob, he is amazing and fantastic company, he really is great fun and has such a brilliant personality.
Anyway that’s enough from me at the moment so I will say bye for now and will be back soon.
Daniel
I hope United aren’t yout second team after last weekend!
Just thought I’d say a quick hello, after my aunt told me about the charity and your website. Hope the blogging works out.
Hi Dan, I recently heard about you and your foundation through a lady called J. K. at the Mandarin. My son, Oscar (13) supports Arsenal too and his Godfather is David Constantine who did something similar to what you did in Australia some time back. He now runs an amazing charity called Motivation. Please take a look at http://www.motivation.org.uk if you can. Maybe one day when you are up and about you can meet David and the Motivation team and then who knows…………..!Take Care.
Hello Dan,
Read about you in Liz Jones column Mail on Sunday.
I am a 71 year old great grandmother and I was in tears when I read about you. Not tears of pity, but tears of sadness that your so called friends have deserted you when you need them most.
Keep strong Dan. keep positive, I hope I live long enough to see you on your feet again. Medical science is moving along, sometimes unseen until the breakthrough comes.
God Bless You and your loving family.
Florence Hardman
Hi Dan. I read about you in the Mail. I normally get really wound up by Liz Jones as I don’t agree much with her point of view. This artical caught my eye though. I was really sad to hear your friends had deserted you. I was thinking how alike my sons you are. They both love sports and both want to be life guards on Bondi Beach one day (they have been watching too much Surf Patrol on the Reality channel.) I was thinking they might like to chat to you. Do you think you could chat to them by email sometime or is this a stupid idea?
Hi Dan, I heard about your charity after meeting Ann & Helen when they came to see Austin & Gary on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, where I work. My partner Chris has a C6 SCI which happened after a car accident in Feb 2006, he got taken to Stoke Mandeville so we may have seen you around if you came back at all?! Im so sorry to hear about your bed rest situation I hope you can get up soon and get back to a level of fitness. We are just starting a FES Rowing programme at the London Regatta Centre which is definetly going to work on Chris’ fitness level, let me know if you’ve heard about it or wish to join once you are well enough as they are looking for more people! We are concentrating on getting Chris up to an able bodied fitness level so that when that ‘cure’ happens we are ready for it! (but like you we are trying to not to get our hopes up that it will be anytime soon!) We also go to a great gym with a trainer that works solely with SCI, he is great, Chris has no spasms for hours after! We also go the the laserponcture clinic in France, i don’t know if you have heard about it but we have great feedback from that, the website is http://www.laserponcture.eu! Care situations are terrible we got so fed up of it I now do my partners care, which was less through choice and more from neccessity!! it makes me so mad thinking about carers and district nurses! clearly SCI needs to come a long way in terms of education in the community! Ive rambled long enough (sorry about the spelling!) Please feel free to email me & Chris, I think its important to keep in touch with people with SCI, if it wasn’t for chatting to people we have met we wouldn’t know about treatments and rehab thats out there, plus its a great support emotionally to chat to people in the same boat!