David Holmes, who was once an inspiring stunt double, became paralysed after a horrific accident on the set of a “Harry Potter” movie.
The former stuntman worked alongside Daniel Radcliffe as his stunt double playing Harry since the first movie, Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone.
The near-deadly accident happened during the filming of The Deathly Hallows Part 2 in January 2009.
During one of the final scenes several Wizards were facing Voldemort and Deatheaters during the Hogwarts Battle.
Throughout this scene, Harry is launched into the air as a result of an explosion.
During the stunt, a cable was supposed to pull back Holmes; unfortunately, it was done with too much force.
This caused Holmes to be slammed into a wall, which resulted in a severe fracture in his spinal cord, resulting in paralysis from the waist down.
Speaking on Andy Coulson’s Crisis What Crisis? podcast, he recalled the terrifying moment when he nearly lost his life.
“Something went wrong that was out of my control.”
“I flew into a wall at a phenomenal pace, neck first, and my chest folded into my nose and my spinal cord separated.”
“I landed instantly paralysed, still conscious.”
Holmes who spent 6 months in hospital whilst being treated for his spinal cord injury, revealed the first time he managed to eat a full meal with his family after the incident.
“The first time was on Christmas Day when I was able to eat a full meal, which was my mum’s Christmas dinner,”
“And we were in a hospital, it was a hard time and I had a little TV on the wall, and we watched Oliver Twist.”
“That film saved my family that day. And for that one moment we were taken out of the hospital and we were transported through the power of a great story.”
“And I always remind myself that Harry Potter does that for millions of people every day,”
“I’m very very proud of my contribution people’s safe space.”
“Despite the fact that it put me into my situation I will never not be proud about that. It’s a beautiful thing.”
You can follow David’s life here on his Instagram.
Featured image credit: David Holmes / HBO
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