It’s important to keep positive and keep doing the things you love to do
TATTOO ARTIST BLINDED IN CAR CRASH FINDS NEW LOVE FOR MUSIC
A TATTOO artist who went blind after a horrific crash is using music as therapy to cope with not being able to do the job he loved.
Damian Mills, 33, from Washington, is lucky to be alive after the car he was in was sandwiched between a lorry and a 4x4 in a dual carriageway pile-up on April 22, 2012.
Doctors didn’t think Damian would survive the night and he was taken to Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary in a critical condition, where he needed emergency surgery on his spine.
He spent weeks in intensive care with a fractured vertebrae, broken ribs and a fractured pelvis.
However, he made a miraculous recovery and was able to walk again – although he had to come to terms with the fact he would never see again.
This meant he had to give up his job as a promising tattoo artist – a job that he had worked hard to build up a reputation for, which spread across the world.
In 2015, Damian was awarded a seven-figure payout but, tragically, his mum Elaine, who was 56, died after being taken ill with pancreatitis – just days before they were due to get the keys to a new family home.
To help him deal with his sudden loss of sight and his mother’s death over four years ago, Damian turned to music to help him cope and has started an acoustic duo with his brother-in-law.
Damian said: “It was really difficult at first losing my eyesight. I really loved my job and had always been into art.
“About four years ago after everything was settled I was going to move home with my mam and stepdad. My mam got rushed into hospital and unfortunately passed away.
“It was a really difficult time and I was coming to terms with everything – I used music as a way of coping.”
Damian, a keen artist and photographer, was the back-seat passenger in a Ford Ka when the crash happened.
As he and his friends were driving down the A19, they crashed into the back of a broken-down lorry and a Mitsubishi 4x4 then hit their car.
Damian said: “We were sandwiched between a car and lorry. I broke my back, my ribs, lots of bones and I lost my eyesight.
“I was on life support for about a week so didn’t realise I was blind at first.
“I had to learn to walk again and because I fractured my pelvis I spent eight weeks lying in bed, which was hard for me.”
After nine weeks in hospital, Damian was allowed home, where his long recovery began.
Although he couldn’t return to his job as a tattoo artist for Triplesix studios in Sunderland, he refused to let his blindness stop him from doing what he loves.
He continued with his love for art and began painting by feeling the lines of paint.
Damian then began dabbling with his love of music and learnt how to play the guitar.
He explained: “I have always been into music and I did used to play the guitar when I was younger, but when I started working I just gave it up.
“My sister had to help me find the different parts of the guitar. She was doing the best she could but she doesn’t play the guitar either.
“Then a couple of years ago my brother-in-law started helping me with it. He would come round and we would just start jamming together.”
That’s when Damian and his brotherin-law Allen Humes, who is also in the band the UK Chilli Peppers, banded together to create the acoustic duo The Humbled Bones.
Damian said: “We were just starting to do well and get a few followers on Instagram and then the coronavirus happened.
“Allen is already in a band and we just thought we’d create a duo.
“Music is very much therapy for me. I have quite a positive outlook on life and that’s probably the reason why I’m doing all these things.
“I used to go travelling around the world because that was always a passion of mine.
“I felt like in my life I have always had something I’m good at it whether it was art or tattooing, but after my accident I felt like I wasn’t bringing anything to the table.
“With art, I could never see for myself whether it was good or not but with music, I can hear it and judge it for myself.
“I realised music is something I could improve on and work on.
“I think it’s important to keep positive and keep doing the things you love to do.”