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Dai Walters: 'I remember being on the floor and the pilot trying to get my heart back going - they didn't know if I would pull through'
The owner and entrepreneur tells Lewis Porteous about his recovery from a helicopter crash that almost ended his life
Dai Walters takes a seat at his kitchen table in a chair that seven months ago he couldn't even lift himself out of. With his neat haircut, cleanly shaved face and crisp chequered shirt, he is looking well by anyone's standards – never mind for a man who came within a short head of losing his life almost a year ago to the day.
The self-made plant hire and construction magnate was left with a broken leg, ribs, shoulder, back and neck when the helicopter carrying him and five others clipped trees shortly after take-off and came hurtling to the ground.
Now, though, he can look forward to an afternoon of shooting in the Welsh wilderness – a sure sign he is feeling as good as he looks – and, while his recovery is not yet complete, he has already defied all odds by coming this far.
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Published on inThe Big Read
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- 'The numbers went in the wrong direction and you're an idiot if you don't think about it - but you back what you're doing'
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- 'I know people will say they've heard it all before - but when I see Constitution Hill now, he's suddenly developed quality'
- 'I don't want to be part of this narrative that Irish trainers are better than us - I think that's rubbish, it drives me nuts'
- 'The grief hits me quite a lot - so many people think I'm really tough but I get terribly upset by things inwardly'
- 'The numbers went in the wrong direction and you're an idiot if you don't think about it - but you back what you're doing'
- 'My wife wants to know why I'm reading the sales catalogue in bed - it's relentless, but you have to be on it all the time'
- 'I know people will say they've heard it all before - but when I see Constitution Hill now, he's suddenly developed quality'