The Darling Point unit where Mikee Collins fell. But the only other damage to his internal organs were cuts to his liver and bruises to his lungs. He didn't even have any bruises on his body. "The last thing I remember was probably about 10 minutes before the accident. I was just talking to two of my staff in the balcony, and then I woke up 3½ weeks later." Just hours before his fall on Monday, December 19, Mr Collins was at a Christmas lunch with staff from his Pyrmont restaurant, the Alira Moorish Food and Wine Bar. He had a few glasses of wine and, as the rain poured down, they adjourned to his harbourside flat. Mr Collins's two staff members said he was leaning his right arm on a balcony rail, slick with rain, when his arm slipped and he started to fall. He tried to grab the railings and one of their shirts, but he tipped over.

Over the next week as he lay in an induced coma at St Vincent's Hospital in Darlinghurst, Mr Collins's life hung in the balance. Yet, bit by bit, he clawed his way back to recovery, aided by a strong sense of self, and a supportive family, who with his partner Shaneez Johnston were by his side every day. He did not lose his sense of humour either. In the days after he woke up, he joked he was unable to speak, "which I am sure a few people were happy to experience". He later started to blend reality with dreams and the television shows he was watching, "almost like a hybrid-reality, which was quite amusing for the staff and friends alike". "ICU is a very serious place to be and I was starting to come back to a part of my personality that people recognise as being who I am. When you cheat death, it’s a strange place to be sometimes.

"[Once], I was convinced I was in a house party - the theme was the '80s show Prisoner. And I could have sworn that everybody was dressed up as Bea and the guards. I was asking them very specific questions about their characters in the show and much to their amusement they ran along with it as well and we all had a laugh." By late February, Mr Collins was discharged from hospital. Now, he attends physiotherapy sessions five days a week and can walk to his local cafe in Potts Point to grab a coffee. "He is very determined. Not once has he ever felt sorry for himself. He has been a source of strength to me even though he is the one going through this," said Ms Johnston, tears welling in her eyes as she watched her partner of 5½ years pedal on a bicycle at St Vincent's Hospital's outpatient physiotherapy unit. "Three months ago, he was lying in bed and couldn't walk. Now he rides a bicycle [at the physiotherapy unit] better than me," she said. Mr Collins said the journey towards recovery, which required learning basic movements such as walking all over again, involved believing that he would fully recover again one day.

"The main thing that you have to keep running through your head is that what's happening to you now is temporary. That you will walk again. That you will regain your quality of life again. When you are in bed for seven weeks and you haven't got out to do anything ... it can be really daunting that this would continue on for a lot longer. "I just didn't want to believe that was it. I didn't have any spinal damage or any serious brain damage. It's just keeping your head about yourself. It's sometimes hard when you are in hospital ... and there are a lot of people around you that are not going to do as well as you are." Mr Collins moves with the help of a walking stick, and has 25 screws - which he dubs his "hardware" - holding his hips and pelvis together. The nerve damage to his left leg is improving but he is not yet sure when he will walk normally again. But he is making plans for the future and hopes to return to the hospitality industry early this year. Also on the cards is marriage - and children. Loading

"When Mikee sees doctors and other medical professionals for the first time they look at him and say, 'How far did you fall?'" Ms Johnston said. "One of his doctors actually said, 'You should change your birthday to the 19th of December. This is your second chance.'"



