Helmut Schober
When Helmut Schober was involved in an horrific car accident on black ice in November 2000 he was never expected to recover.
He “died” on the operating table and, while floating down a darkened tunnel, he heard a surgeon say that he had passed away and another saying: “Let’s give him one last shock.”
That one last attempt to revive him saved his life, although he lost his right leg above the knee and his left leg had to be extensively re-built.
He was in hospital for nine months recovering from a massive catalogue of injuries including a broken pelvis, kidney failure, ripped intestines, heart valve damage and a ruptured spleen. He also contracted an MRSA infection since his body was too weak to fight it off.
Despite all the odds being tipped against him, the former office furniture businessman who lives in Northern Ireland, somehow managed to pull through and today he is leading a relatively normal life.
Says Helmut, 57: “I really shouldn’t be here, but I’m so glad I am. It’s been a long hard struggle, but I now feel that I am at long last beginning to reclaim my life.”
Although a consultant warned Helmut that he would never walk properly again, he has proven him wrong with the help of the clinical team at the PACE Rehabilitation clinic in Cheadle, South Manchester.
With the prosthesis fitted at PACE, Helmut, who visits the clinic twice a year can walk unaided and even drive an automatic car with a left-foot accelerator.
“It has taken a lot of hard work, persistence and physiotherapy to get me back on track and I feel indebted to the team at PACE. Although I’ve had to give up work and sailing, which was one of my great passions, I can still do plenty of interesting things that I never thought would be possible five years’ ago.”
Helmut enjoys clay pigeon shooting, quad biking and even mowing the lawn on his motorised grass cutter.
This year, for the first time since the accident, he is taking his wife Carol abroad in the car, and he is doing all the driving.
“We’re going over to France and Germany, taking in The Alps and I have the confidence to do it at long last. I can now walk without a stick and I feel as though I have been re-born. I’m a very lucky man.”