 Daniel Radcliffe's stunt double, who was left paralysed after an accident on the set of 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows', has told of the moment he realised he would never walk again. 30-year-old David Holmes was thrown into a wall while rehearsing a flying scene for the film which featured an explosion, while filming at the Warner Bros Studios in Hertfordshire in 2009. After hitting the wall, he landed heavily on the ground breaking his neck. He told the Daily Mirror: “My first thought was, ‘Don’t ring Mum and Dad, I don’t want to worry them’. “I hit the wall and then landed on the crash mat underneath. My stunt co-ordinator grabbed my hand and said, 'Squeeze my fingers'. I could move my arm to grab his hand but I couldn’t squeeze his fingers. “I looked into his eyes and that’s when I realised what happened was major. “I remember slipping in and out of consciousness because of the pain levels. I’d broken a bone before, so recognising that weird feeling across my whole body from my fingertips right down to my toes, I knew I had really done some damage.”  Holmes, who was 25 at the time, was Radcliffe's stunt double on all the Harry Potter films in the series up until the accident. Following the accident, he was taken to Watford General, and then transferred to the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore, North West London, where he was told by doctors that he would be paralysed from the chest down. “My first thoughts weren’t about not being able to walk again. It was all the other stuff, like not being able to dance again or have sex,” he added. “I have gone from being able to stand on my hands for half an hour at a time and then all of a sudden I can’t sit up in bed. “There was definitely a sense of tragedy for me, but also a sense of sheer determination to beat it and better it.”  He was visited at the time of the injury in hospital by both Radcliffe and Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy in the films. Radcliffe later hosted a charity event and auction to raise money for his rehabilitation. Said Radcliffe: “I’ve got a relationship that goes back many, many years with Dave. “And I would hate for people to just see me and Dave and go, ‘oh, there’s Daniel Radcliffe with a person in a wheelchair’ – because I would never, even for a moment, want them to assume that Dave was anything except for an incredibly important person in my life.” Wheelchair-bound Holmes, who was a gymnast from the age of six, now drives a specially modified racing car at speeds of up to 150mph on race tracks, and has launched his own production company called Ripple Productions. “I haven’t let my accident affect my outlook on life and I am still very determined and positive,” he said. “I also haven’t let it hold me back in life and I still enjoy track days racing my car, going on holidays with my friends and am now looking forward to starting a new career.” He's also now an appeal ambassador for the RNOH, adding: “Every eight hours someone in the UK is told they will never walk again. Without places like the RNOH things would look much bleaker for those people. The support they gave me was incredible.” Yahoo
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