How this 25-year-old medical marvel was left on the brink of death by a car crash that shattered his skull into 30 pieces - but defied the odds to write a book, complete his degree and live an independent life

  • Jack Martindale, 25, was hit by a car in early hours of New Year's Day 2010
  • His new love interest, 19, never woke from coma. Friend, 20, died instantly
  • He was in coma for 3 months, doctors said he would be dependent for life
  • His skull shattered into 30 pieces, doctors replaced it with titanium plates
  • Endured lengthy battles to convict driver Shamail Ali Syed - who was jailed for 7 years - and reclaim his compensation from the Court of Protection
  • Defied expectations by finishing degree and writing a book about his ordeal

It is a medical marvel Jack Martindale made it to this interview.

The 25-year-old has, like many others, just completed a bachelors degree and started the process of working out what to do next.

But less than five years ago, in the early hours of New Year’s Day 2010, he was in a coma, his skull shattered into 30 pieces after he and his friends were hit by a car that had careered off the road.

Horrific: Jack Martindale, 25, pictured left this year, less than five years after he was slammed into a coma, right, by a speeding driver in the early hours of New Year's Day 2010, leaving him with permanent brain damage
Horrific: Jack Martindale, 25, pictured left this year, less than five years after he was slammed into a coma, right, by a speeding driver in the early hours of New Year's Day 2010, leaving him with permanent brain damage

Horrific: Jack Martindale, 25, pictured left this year, less than five years after he was slammed into a coma, right, by a speeding driver in the early hours of New Year's Day 2010, leaving him with permanent brain damage

Tragic: Jack, pictured months before  with love interest Chelsea Cannon, who never awoke from her coma

Tragic: Jack, pictured months before with love interest Chelsea Cannon, who never awoke from her coma

The crash near London’s north circular killed his 20-year-old friend Carrie Maclaren instantly. His new love interest, Chelsea Cannon, 19, never woke up from her coma.

For more than three months doctors repeatedly warned his parents that Jack would probably wake up but could never lead an independent life. 

On a scale of one to 15, his coma was rated three: the lowest point at which you have a chance of survival.

He suffered a diffuse axonal head injury, which left him with severe amnesia and ataxia, which affects muscle coordination and speech. 

At first - before a grueling five-hour operation to replace his skull with nine titanium plates and 33 screws - Jack's injuries had also completely altered his appearance.

Incredibly, after a bitter legal battle and years of intensive therapy, he has a degree, his own place and has written a book about his journey battling a brain injury.

Still, it is a struggle to describe the moment he came to.

‘I thought that I must just be having some vivid nightmare,’ he told MailOnline.

‘Although I cannot definitively know how long this lasted, I refused to believe that my situation had really occurred for well over six months.’  

Carefree: Then aged 21, Jack had been in his final year of an English degree at the University of York. He was leaving a party with Chelsea their friend Carrie and two others in Barnet, north London, when they were hit

Carefree: Then aged 21, Jack had been in his final year of an English degree at the University of York. He was leaving a party with Chelsea, their friend Carrie and two others in Barnet, north London, when they were hit

Before: Jack, pictured months before the accident, said he was in denial for months after the crash

Before: Jack, pictured months before the accident, said he was in denial for months after the crash

Travels: Jack traveled to Malawi (pictured) and India during his holidays from university before the accident

Travels: Jack traveled to Malawi (pictured) and India during his holidays from university before the accident

Devastation: Doctors warned his parents Jack would never be able to lead an independent life when he awoke

Devastation: Doctors warned his parents Jack would never be able to lead an independent life when he awoke

Jack woke up in April 2010, unable to walk, talk, or eat.

He had no idea how old he was and was shocked that his parents were so young.

When doctors tried to test his memory, he could only identify objects in French. 

Almost immediately, his parents - classroom assistant Jo, 56, and shipping lawyer Bill, 57 - delivered the crushing news that Chelsea and Carrie were dead.

'Words failed me,' Jack explains.

'I was utterly devastated.

'It must have been incredibly difficult for people to have told me the news and luckily my parents always dismissed the view that they shouldn't tell me about Chelsea and Carrie's deaths. 

'I had begun to ask the questions and if they'd kept things from me, I'd feel betrayal and massive lasting resentment.'

Shattered: This is Jack's x-ray showing how his skull was shattered into 30 pieces. A surgeon dedicated himself to rebuilding Jack's face using nine titanium plates and 33 metal screws in a five-hour operation

Shattered: This is Jack's x-ray showing how his skull was shattered into 30 pieces. A surgeon dedicated himself to rebuilding Jack's face using nine titanium plates and 33 metal screws in a five-hour operation

Jack had been on the cusp of completing his English degree at the University of York after three years of study. But the accident changed everything. 

However, after defying expectations by surviving the crash, he was determined to get his life back on track.

He started with nine months at the Queen Elizabeth Foundation (QEF), a neurological rehabilition centre in Surrey, where he started constructing plans to return to York, prosecute the driver that killed his two friends, and reclaim his rightful compensation.

‘I had a robust desire to prove myself,' he said. 

'This need to validate myself has long relented along with more painfully accepting gradually that a brain injury shall always exist as something for me to have to work around.' 

It started with a bitter legal battle - first to convict the driver Shamail Ali Syed, who was found guilty of two counts of deaths by dangerous driving and jailed for seven years. 

Then Jack had to endure a fight to prove to the Court of Protection that he was mentally fit to control his own compensation money, which Syed was ordered to pay.

The controversial system has jurisdiction over the property, financial affairs and personal welfare of people who it claims lack mental capacity to make decisions for themselves.

But negotiating to reclaim his money, Jack discovered, was no simple process.

'Paradox is a word that I use frequently throughout my book and the Court of Protection is an ultimate example of this; it’s acting in your interest, but getting full control of your money returned is an arduous process. 

'With the assistance of the QEF, I was removed from the Court of Protection at some point in 2011 after a lengthy process of proving that I was fit to handle my own money.’

The payment was released in 2011 as Jack decided he was finally ready complete the bachelors degree he started in 2007.

Jack is not short of compliments for the University of York, which provided him with a library assistant, an English supervisor, and neurological support to reach his qualification.

 Scars slap me in the face whenever I look at photographs. Sometimes it's a source of pride, others I can't believe it's me

'The University of York were fantastic at accommodating my return to studies. 

'Learning the futility of trying to recapture my own glorified university experience was tricky at first. 

'Ultimately I think that I underestimated the fact that completing an English and Politics degree from the University of York is no walk in the park.

'Once I made a tight group of friends that were disconnected from the university and did my degree over a part-time basis, things became good again!' 

He has now written a book detailing his experiences as clearly as he can remember.

But that night remains a blank in his mind.

‘As I suffered from severe amnesia and the entirety of New Year 2010 continues to be a haze, writing about that was impossible.

'Still I have blurry visions of many moments that could have be recollections from our night, but can’t be sure which are just figments of my imagination or based on prompts from evidence or things that I’ve been told.’

It is a major professional and personal landmark that few people in full health could contemplate.

The release of Battling A Brain Injury: The Life That Jack Built, which has been months in the making, gives him something of a boost as he nears the five-year mark. 

Success: Jack, pictured with his mother Jo, was determined to finish his studies and last year was awarded a 2:1 for his bachelor's degree in English and Politics at the University of York, where he is still based today

Success: Jack, pictured with his mother Jo, was determined to finish his studies and last year was awarded a 2:1 for his bachelor's degree in English and Politics at the University of York, where he is still based today

Looking forward: Having now written a book about his experiences, Jack has defied doctors' expectations
Looking forward: Having now written a book about his experiences, Jack has defied doctors' expectations

Looking forward: Having now written a book about his experiences, Jack has defied doctors' expectations

But he speaks candidly about the everyday torment he faces simply looking at his tracheotomy scar - which he has colloquially dubbed his ‘trackey’.

‘Scars slap me in the face whenever I look at photographs and obviously whether I have predominantly pride or… Shame isn’t the right word, although there is at times a significant amount of discomfort having this scar.

‘Sometimes it’s a source of pride and other times I just fail to believe that this is me.

‘It is what it is, no choice in the matter.’

In a choking blog post, he writes: 'The bitter irony is that I do not even want to identify particularly with those who’d be able to relate to my situation; everything about the state that I have been left within is something that I have desperately urged to veer away from.

'There are certainly optimistic things that have arisen as a result of the catastrophic accident that I was involved in, only I’ve moved beyond believing that they can ever balance out my horrific ordeals.'

  • Battling A Brain Injury: The Life That Jack Built, published by Austin Macauley, £6.99, is out on October 31. Click here for details.

 

 

Jack Martindale was left on brink of death but defied everyone to live independent life

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