WARNING:

Some of the pictures and content in the video may be disturbing to some people

Hi my name is Daniel, I am 27 Years old and I would like to share with you a life altering experience that has turned my life upside down, and forced me to really look at life from a different perspective.

On Sunday the 14th of April 2013, I made a fateful decision to climb a famous multi- pitch climb in the blue mountains called Sweet Dreams. It is an easy climb with a choice of an easy or difficult finish. I had climbed this climb 3 times before and knew the route well. My climbing partner (Sean) had also climbed the route before with me. This time we decide to do the harder finish, Sean went first and then belayed me up afterwards, I was on a top rope, so if I fell I shouldn’t have fallen any more than 1 metre. Feeling a bit more confident being on a top rope and not leading, I made a bigger move than I normally would have, and missed!!!…..but the rope didn’t go tight……. I thought that’s it…I’m DEAD!!. Finally I stopped….I was surprised and relieved to be alive, however, when I looked at my feet I went into shock, as my left foot had snapped off and was dangling around on a bit of skin and the right was mangled beyond recognition. I yelled to Sean to lower me down, so I could connect to a bolt in the wall to avoid falling even further, I was fighting to control my fear and regain control of the position I was in.

Fortunately, I had Telstra and could call the police and sat on a ledge no bigger than 300mm still 300 metres up a cliff for 3 and a half hours till emergency rescue could get to me. They could not get the helicopter close enough to me, so the amazing policeman had to abseil me down and then piggy-back me approx 100 metres to get me out taking another 3 hours.

They operated the same night and after 8 weeks in hospital and 5 weeks at home recovering, I still had an open wound on my left ankle as my foot was infected and would not heal. After now months of anti-biotic’s and many expensive visits to specialists trying to sort out why my foot was in so much pain and wouldn’t heal, I have just had more surgery and the bone in the ankle has died and had to be removed. My focus now is keeping my foot, amputation is a scary thought and I am hoping that the infection is over come.

My family and friends have been very supportive, but we are now months down the track, and more financial assistance is needed due to my Accident and Sickness Insurance being knocked back.

So I am asking for you help and kind thoughts to assist me cover the large number of doctor’s expenses, MRI’s and physio costs, that are putting huge pressure on my peace of mind and effecting my healing. A donation of any amount, no matter how small, will be appreciated more than words can say.If you can’t make a donation, that’s OK also, but I would appreciate it if you could please share this on Facebook with your friends.

Sincere thanks…

Daniel Bush

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