REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Wednesday, July 7, 2004

DAVID Percival remembered nothing about the night he was hit by a car at Broadbeach — and he didn’t want to — he feared, if he did, it may break him.

Two weeks after he defied the odds and woke from a coma, the 19-year-old said he was is in no hurry to relive the trauma.

“I have no recollection of what happened, I can’t remember a thing ... only going with my mates to the pool hall,’’ said the apprentice electrician.

“I think I’m lucky. If I did remember it, I’d be off the rails. I haven’t broken yet, I’m trying to be as strong as I can.’’

His greatest fear was spending the rest of his life wrapped in cotton wool — no longer able to jetski, surf or play soccer. His mum Dianne constantly reminded her son that living a sheltered life was better than not living at all.

On Friday, June 11, 2004, Dianne almost lost her son forever. The teenager had been with friends when he was hit by a car outside a Broadbeach nightspot, suffering severe head and back injuries.

At his Biggera Waters home yesterday, he walked freely, made a cup of tea and spoke confidently but David said it was all “baby steps’’.

Dianne, a fulltime carer for David’s terminally ill father and her youngest son, said the former Coombabah High School captain defied death.

“It’s a miracle that he is here,’’ she said. “Not many people get a second chance at life and he’s got one.’’