Teen running London Marathon after four months on stroke ward

A teenager has described how a serious head injury sustained while on a football holiday in Ibiza left him in a stroke ward for four months.

Daniel Hurst, who was 19 at the time, disappeared during a night out with his father and Yateley United Football Club teammates in May and was later found by police with an injury that medics didn't believe he would survive.

He was put in a medically induced coma, before being airlifted to Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey a month later.

Almost a year on, Daniel has recovered his ability to walk and talk and is now planning to run the London Marathon to raise money for the hospital's charity and raise awareness that "recovery is possible".

"We were told there was a very high chance that he wouldn't make it," Daniel's father, Steve Hurst, said. "They were quite blunt about the severity of his injuries."

Daniel was airlifted to Majorca and needed surgery which involved medics removing part of his skull to try to stop the swelling.

"Even after his surgery in Majorca we were told that it was an 'hour-by-hour, day-by-day' situation," Hurst said.

After four weeks in hospital on the Spanish island, he was stable enough to be airlifted to Frimley Park, where he spent four months on a stroke unit for patients who suffer traumatic brain injuries.

When Daniel arrived at the hospital he was unable to walk or talk and was the youngest ever patient to be cared for on the stroke ward.

Working at a local golf club, Daniel is now back playing some football with his teammates.

He said: "You have to keep moving forward.

"I want to help motivate people [with brain injuries] to just keep going forward – your life is never over."

Aiming to run the London Marathon on 26 April, Hurst said he was focused on "getting over the finish line".

"Dan is a testament that with rehab that you can have a good outcome following a traumatic brain injury," said Dr Tilly Speirs, one of Hurst's medics.

"I think his future is going to be as bright as it was before he went on that trip."

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