A wave paralysed me but AI could help me walk again

7 hours ago Share Save Meleri Williams BBC Wales Share Save

After a New Year's Eve swim in 2023, Dan Richards' life changed forever

When Dan Richards went for a New Year's Eve swim in 2023, he never could have imagined how drastically his life would change. In a freak accident, he injured his neck when a wave caused him to flip and hit the sand in Langland Bay, Swansea. "I knew instantly that I was paralysed," the 37-year-old said. "I couldn't move anything." Doctors told him he would be bed-bound but, two years later, he uses a wheelchair and can move his arms and fingers. He has even walked with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology in Wales and Germany.

Dan and his partner Anna, 40, were celebrating the new year with a cold water dip when the accident happened. "I remember all of it, unfortunately. Being pulled out. And then everything changing," Dan said. "I got hit by a wave, it flipped me over and folded me backwards, and snapped my neck. I knew it was bad."

Anna Thomas Dan is determined to move as much as possible after becoming paralysed

Anna recalled hearing Dan shouting for help as she got ready to get into the water. "I just remember looking over and just seeing Dan's head coming up and then going back under," she said. "We dragged him out. But he was just dead weight and the sea was coming in really fast. "We waited for emergency services, and then [I remember] begging them to let me go in the helicopter. It was horrendous." After being taken to hospital in Bristol, the couple from Swansea were given life-changing news.

Anna Thomas Dan and Anna loved to swim in the sea before the accident

Dan said he was told he was paralysed form the neck down, would not be able to move and it was "highly likely" he would be bed-bound for the rest of his life. Anna - who had only started dating Dan a few months before the accident - had to make dreaded phone calls to family members. "It was New Year's Eve, I was put in a room on my own but you could hear people laughing and joking, and I had to tell Dan's parents. "How do you phone someone's mum and say that their son is paralysed?"

Dan was given life-changing news while in hospital in January 2024

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