‘Tombstoning incident changed my life forever’
AFEMALE bouncer has described how her life has been destroyed by tombstoning. Danni Harding, 29, was running her own successful security firm and had worked for 10 years on the doors of pubs across south Wales, until the fateful summer day in 2018 when she decided to jump off a waterfall at Pontneddfechan, Glynneath.
The Barry-born mum was left with a badly broken spine and prone to seizures, slurred speech and the loss of use of her limbs as a result of the trauma.
She also ended up requiring a catheter, several operations and is reliant on a wheelchair to get around.
Danni has now made the decision to tell her tale as a warning to others after a 13-year-old boy had to be airlifted to hospital by mountain rescue teams last week after leaping from the same spot.
“When I read about that lad it took me right back to when my own accident happened,” she said.
“It was a boiling-hot day and me and a group of friends had gone up to Sgwd Gwladys to cool down – we made packed lunches, took lilos and everything.”
Danni added that she jumped off the highest waterfall there about nine times before disaster finally struck.
“I must have hit the bottom or a rock with my backside, because straightaway I knew something was very wrong.
“But, being as headstrong as I am, I fronted out the pain and managed to walk out of there.
“It wasn’t until we’d all hiked a bit further on that the pain overcame me and I collapsed.”
Danni, who had hit the headlines months before when she rushed to the aid of a reveller who was mown down by a car outside a Cardiff pub, would later discover her coccyx had snapped
Reporter
off and was now inverted inside her.
“I couldn’t so much as sit down or go to the toilet – it was horrific,” she said.
“I had to have a catheter inserted in me and the bag filled up with blood – my son, who was only three at the time, is responsible for saving my life because he alerted hospital staff after I’d fallen on the floor in A&E and started having a fit.”
Danni said the seizures were due to FND, or Functional Neurological Disorder, a rare medical condition she developed after the tombstoning incident.
“Had you talked to me about a year ago I doubt you’d have been able to understand me, because it caused my speech to sound really addled too.
“Two years of my life have been ripped away from me – I’ve lost work, had to shut down my business, and even simple things like cooking a meal – which is one of my great passions – is beyond me now.
“I’ve been offered a care worker but I’m lucky enough to have lovely neighbours who do a lot for me with regard to everyday things, although that’s hardly ideal.”
She added: “Now I’m still awaiting three operations – all of which will leave me bedridden for long periods, along with requiring a colostomy bag for about a year.
“What life will be like once I’m over those surgeries, I can’t say.
“And all this because, one day, I decided to jump off a waterfall for fun.
“Please, anyone reading this who might be thinking of doing the same thing, I beg you to reconsider.
“Don’t let what happened to me happen to you.”