Recovering bike crash victim ready to give back
When Dan Jack spent the day at a mountainbike park in Palmerston North more than a year ago, he didn’t realise it would turn his life upside down.
Once fit, active and healthy, Jack has spent the past 14 months recovering from an accident that almost ended his life. ‘‘When I returned home from hospital, I was pretty much ready for the retirement home. Normally I’m the one trying to help people and I just felt very useless.’’
In March last year, Jack was biking downhill at the Arapuke Mountain Bike Park, at close to 40kph, when he misjudged a jump and was thrown 4 metres in the air, landing on a clay wall.
Suffering extensive injuries including a shattered pelvis, shoulder and spinal injuries, broken ribs and concussion, Jack managed to drag himself and his bike off the edge of the track.
‘‘Then I think I passed out and the rest is a bit blurry for a while,’’ he said.
Jack’s friends and other mountain bikers saw what happened and stopped to call emergency services.
An ambulance rushed to the scene but due to its location the Palmerston North Rescue Helicopter was dispatched.
Paramedics carefully loaded Jack on to a stretcher and drove him to a clearing where the helicopter was waiting to take him to Palmerston North Hospital.
Not knowing what was wrong, Jack went into a state of panic.
‘‘But, it was such a relief knowing I was with the helicopter crew. I felt very safe,’’ he said.
‘‘They just seemed so cool, calm and collected. They knew what they were doing and did the job well.’’
Jack wanted to give back and help others who had also suffered a major injury.
He was building an indoor adventure park with a ninja warrior course and fitness gym.
He hoped the adventure park would help rehabilitate people while lifting their spirits, and planned to use some income
to support the rescue helicopter that helped save his life.
A year on, Jack is ‘‘surprisingly OK’’. He encouraged people to make a donation at the appeal website.