Last updated at 12:23, Friday, 31 August 2012

A 12-year-old Workington boy who was inches from death after breaking his neck in a rugby tournament has made a miraculous recovery.

AMAZING RECOVERY: David Curran, 12, who broke his neck playing rugby in April, will take to the stage next month with Workington and District Amateur Musical Society

Doctors initially thought David Curran, of Windsor Road, Westfield, was paralysed when he was admitted to hospital.

But less than five months later, he will be on stage in a production of Alice in Wonderland by Workington and District Amateur Musical Society.

His parents Tracy and Stephen Cunningham were told by consultants that the youngster had come very close to being paralysed or dying from his injury.

Tracy said: “A nurse at the hospital in Newcastle really summed it up when she said she didn’t expect him to walk out of there.

“I think that is when it hit us how serious it was.”

David was injured in a tackle while playing for his beloved Salterbeck Storm rugby league team in April and was airlifted to Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary.

He said: “I didn’t feel anything and I wanted to go back on but then I fainted.

“I remember looking up at the ceiling in the helicopter.

“I would have been in a worse condition if it wasn’t for the air ambulance and I really thank them.”

David, a pupil at St Joseph’s Catholic High School, had to wear a neck brace for 12 weeks and was forced to give up the sports he loved, including rugby, football and running.

He is still seeing a consultant and having physiotherapy on his neck to strengthen the weakened muscles.

He has been kept busy with rehearsals for his role as the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland.

He said: “It is really fun and sometimes when I come here and I am in a bad mood I can just leave it at the door.

“My friends were over the moon when I came back and I think they were happy to see me walking.”

David has been a member of the society for two years. This week members donated £200 to the Pride of Cumbria Air Ambulance which flew him to hospital.

The society will also donate everything it collects over the next 12 months to the air ambulance.

Stephen added: “He is back to being a typical 12-year-old boy now. It is fantastic.”

l Next Generation set for production – Weekend West, Page 23

First published at 11:54, Friday, 31 August 2012
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk