Father paralysed after tripping over wall at daughter’s birthday party

A father-of-three became paralysed instantly from the neck down after falling over a garden wall at his daughter’s 21st birthday party.

Jason Davies, 56, tumbled over the 3ft wall at his daughter’s birthday bash and hit his head in the freak fall.

Jason, of Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, waited four hours for an ambulance before he spent 10 weeks in hospital.

He and his family had thrown a garden party for their daughter the day after his mother had passed away to ‘put on a brave face’.

But after the three-foot fall from the wall, his neck caught on a flower pot and he said he was ‘instantly’ paralysed.

Jason said he felt no pain as he waited for an ambulance, but told people not to move him because he couldn’t feel anything from his neck down.

He was taken to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff where he underwent an operation for his injuries.

Jason is now undergoing intensive rehabilitation therapy at Llandough Hospital in Cardiff.

He said: ‘I’ve been quite lucky really because I’ve got my arms and my hands working a bit.

‘When I first got to Llandough, I couldn’t feed myself, but now I am able to feed myself. If I had a packet of crisps in front of me, there’s no way I could open the packet, but if they were open, I could get my fingers in somehow and be able to eat them.’

Jason said he can feel his legs through touch, but has no other sensation.

‘I’ve been a PCSO for the last 20 years, and they’ve been absolutely fantastic to me through this,’ he said.

‘The chief constable, Jeremy Vaughan, came to see me last week and I have their full support. They’ve said the job is there for me for the future, but get yourself right first.’

Jason said his job is his ‘life’ and he’s using it as motivation to get better.

A fundraiser has now been set up by colleague Ross Hadley to help Jason make his home suitable for his recovery.

He said: ‘It’s not so much about the money as I was a little bit embarrassed when they said they were going to do it, it’s more about the thought from people. It means so much.

‘It will make a massive difference to me. Realistically, the alternative might be that I have to find accommodation on my own because it is so hard to find somewhere suitable.’

Another father was involved in a diving accident on his friend’s stag do in Mallorca in July 2018 – an incident that left him paralysed from the waist down. 

Keith Dungait, from Northumberland, was told his chances of walking again were very low after he broke five bones along with his neck and back and damaged his spinal cord.

Keith said: ‘We were all having a laugh in the pool, and I dived in, just as I had done thousands of times before. I had obviously misjudged it this time, as I dived in, I hit my head on the bottom of the pool.’

Years after the accident, Keith defied the odds and is taking more and more steps every day.

Off the back of the accident, he also lost the use of his hands (which have not fully returned) and had very minimal arm movement and core function, which he has slowly regained over time.

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