Talented footballer's fight to walk again

By Michelle Hoctor
Updated November 5 2012 - 9:26pm, first published July 19 2009 - 11:35am
Dylan with his mother Gai. Picture: DAVE TEASE
Dylan with his mother Gai. Picture: DAVE TEASE
Dylan Welch. Picture: DAVE TEASE
Dylan Welch. Picture: DAVE TEASE

Just seven months ago, talented rugby league player Dylan Welch had gained his first job and was looking forward to the upcoming league season at Bowral.But the 15-year-old's life was shattered in an instant when his spine was crushed in a horrific car accident, leaving him a quadriplegic.Doctors told him he would never walk again and would remain on a ventilator for the rest of his life.But they did not count on the rebellious spirit that imbues most young blokes of Dylan's age."My aim is to walk again. I reckon I will," he said this week.Dylan moved to Bowral last October to live with his sister Bianca and find a job after leaving his Mid-North Coast home of Eungai Rail, near Macksville.Mum Gai said Dylan was never much of a student, a statement that brought a smile to her son's face."I just wanted to work ... and play footy," he said.With the job in the bag, he turned his attention to rugby league. He'd already played with the Bowraville Tigers for eight years, winning five grand finals."I planned to play for Bowral, but I never got the chance."Sunday, January 18, was a typical, hot summer's day when Dylan woke late at a friend's house after attending a party the night before.He and two mates, aged 15 and 18, were collected by the boys' father and driven back to Bowral in the Berrima man's utility.They were driving west along Berrima Rd just after 12.30pm when the ute went out of control on a right-hand bend, veered to the wrong side of the road, hit a fence, travelled along a dam and hit a tree.The scene that greeted emergency services was bloody and heartbreaking. The 18-year-old was lying outside the vehicle with critical injuries. His brother was trapped in the ute, one arm ripped off. Beside him, Dylan was trapped under the console. He'd suffered a broken shoulder, collapsed lung and three crushed vertebrae in his neck.The father was uninjured.Dylan was unconscious and has no recollection of the accident."All I remember is hitting something hard. I was trapped down in the console because it was all caved in, I'm pretty sure," he said."I don't remember getting into a chopper or being flown to Royal North Shore Hospital."His next memory was waking up after 21/2 weeks in an induced coma.Discovering he was paralysed was traumatic."He was very distraught when he started waking up ... he was aware he couldn't move and would start thrashing his head," Mrs Welch said.He remained in intensive care for two months, his family communicating through sign language."The doctors said I wouldn't walk. They told me I would never come off the respirator ...," Dylan said. "But I was determined to get rid of it ... It took about six weeks but I did."Dylan had to retrain himself to breath and talk and use the muscles in the back of his neck to move his arms. "I started moving my arms about three weeks ago. It took that long just to get a bit of movement."He hopes to leave the rehabilitation centre in October - two months after his 16th birthday."My attitude is this is what I've been dealt and I just have to fight my way out of it," he said.

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