13th May 2008 would forever hold mixed emotions
for 25-year-old Dan Lombard. Just like any other day, he was in school
(Pretoria Boys’ High School, SA) when he decided to join the practice game for
the school’s rugby team. Little did he know that he was seconds away from
disaster.
About an hour into practice, Dan broke his neck while
tackling the opposition scrumhalf, an accident that resulted in his being
trapped in a wheelchair forever, not being able to use his hands or legs.
Recalling his experience he said,
“I assume my head was
pinned in an awkward manner because a moment later, I heard three ominous
cracks. I had broken my C4/5 vertebra and had severed my spinal cord, leaving
me a quadriplegic. This basically means that I have no functional use of my
limbs”.
Dan has since found a silver lining in his dark cloud by being a sports journalist. He runs a rugby blog (Rugby from a wheelchair) which boasts of over 50,000 unique visitors per year. He writes freelance stories for SuperSports and is currently working on his autobiography.
One interesting thing that caught my attention about Dan is
how he has been able to overcome his disability by typing with his tongue.
Going at 900 words in 15 minutes on his Samsung S5, you will be amazed at the
accuracy of the tip of his tongue. His tongue is so flexible that he can touch
his nose!
Though a victim of a catastrophic rugby incident, Dan has
since completed his Honours degree in journalism at the University of Pretoria
and is looking to complete his master’s and doctoral studies in a few years.
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| Dan typing away on his phone |
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