Teenager spent months on stroke ward after horror accident in Ibiza
What started as an annual football holiday in Ibiza ended in disaster for the English teenager, who suffered a serious head injury that left him in a stroke ward for four months.
Daniel Hurst, then 19, had traveled to the popular destination with his Yateley United Football Club teammates last May.
But the journey ended in disaster after Mr Hurst suffered such a horrific head injury that paramedics initially doubted his survival.
After an evening with club members, including his father Steve, Mr Hurst decided to walk the 300 meters back to his hotel. He then disappeared, prompting his teammates to search.
A few hours later his father was informed by police that a British boy had been taken to hospital with serious head injuries and was not expected to survive the night.
Mr. Hurst was flown to Majorca for emergency surgery; In this surgery, doctors removed part of his skull to stop swelling.
He was placed in a medically induced coma.
After a four-week hospital stay on the Spanish island, he was stable enough to be airlifted to Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey, where he spent four months in an inpatient stroke unit for patients suffering from traumatic brain injury.
He was the youngest patient cared for in Frimley’s stroke ward.
He was unable to walk or talk when he arrived at hospital, but thanks to the care he received, he now plans to run the London Marathon to raise funds for the hospital’s charity.
Mr Hurst, who works at a local golf club, also returned to playing football with his teammates.
He also wants to raise awareness that “healing is possible” after such a traumatic injury.
“You have to keep moving forward,” he told the Press Association.
“I’m making the same plans now that I did before this happened: trying to improve my golf, running a lot, going to the gym, things like that.
“Obviously there was a little bit of a push back, but not too much.
“I want to help motivate people (with brain injuries) to keep moving forward; your life never ends.
“I know it’s hard. ‘Is my life over?’ “There were moments when I thought… but you have to keep going.”
Mr Hurst praised hospital staff at Frimley Park Hospital, saying they motivated him.
He added of the marathon: “Even if I walk, this year is not about beating my time from last year, it’s about crossing the finish line.”
In his message to holiday goers, he said: “I advise people to be careful and always stay with at least one or two other people, always stay together.”
His father Steve, 53, added: “The message, as Dan says, is just ‘be with someone, just be mindful of the environment’. It can happen anywhere.”
He said the following about the incident: “We couldn’t find Dan, I stole his phone, the police answered it.
“They said someone matching Dan’s description was taken to the hospital.
“We were told there was a very good chance he wouldn’t make it; they were quite upfront about the severity of his injuries.
“I had to call his mother and tell her what happened, it was terrible.
“Even after his surgery in Majorca, we were told it was an ‘hour by hour, day by day’ situation.”
One of Mr Hurst’s medics, Dr Dana, is a consultant stroke doctor at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust. Tilly Speirs told the Press Association: “When he arrived we had to start from scratch and find out what his deficiencies were and what treatment he would need.
“When he came to us he couldn’t walk and it was a really scary time for his family because they didn’t know what was going to happen and whether he was going to get better.
“When he arrived he had post-traumatic amnesia… he couldn’t remember what had happened the day before or the hour before.
“He survived his head injury but the family didn’t know what that survival would be like.
“As a team, we didn’t know either, but we knew that he needed rehab and that he was in pretty good shape.
“He was old, he had just run a marathon, so he was in good physical condition before this happened.
“Dan is proof that you can achieve a good outcome with rehabilitation after a traumatic brain injury; it won’t be the same for everyone, it really depends on the individual, but he’s done pretty well and I think his future will be as bright as it was before he went on that journey.”
– The London Marathon will take place on Sunday, April 26, and Mr Hurst has set up a fundraising page at justgiving.com/page/danhurst20.
