Daniel Cain, a former Arsenal academy player, now requires 24-hour round-the-clock care after his drink was tainted on a night out.
According to his family, the ex-footballer became tetraplegic as a result of the incident, which refers to the impairment or loss of motor and/or sensory function in the spinal cord as a result of neurological damage.
Cain, a 23-year-old Hemel Hempstead local, became an electrician after leaving Arsenal, but his life was forever changed after one horrible night.
Before a night out with friends in 2020, he was a healthy young man. The night in question took a bad turn after Cain’s buddies discovered him unconscious and in a ‘strange color.’ He had gone into cardiac arrest and was not waking up, unbeknownst to his friends. His pals did CPR as he waited for an ambulance.
Ex-Arsenal academy player Daniel Cain left needing 24-hour care after drink "spiked" on night out with friends pic.twitter.com/a7HVwLKgKm
— REMEDY BLOG đ (@remedy_blog) April 23, 2023
It took medics 20 minutes to get Cain’s heart beating normally again, but due to the length of time it took, his spinal cord and brain had been starved of oxygen.
Doctors told Cain’s family that even if he woke up, he could be in a vegetative condition, but after 25 days in a coma, he beat the odds by awaking with his cognitive abilities gradually returning.
Daniel Cainâs mother Tracey told The Independent: âWhen I found out I went into automatic mum mode. I phoned his father who was at work and his sister came back from Essex. At around 3-4am in the morning, they tried to prepare us that he was not going to wake up, but I said to keep trying. I wasnât going to accept he wasnât going to come around.
âWhen he woke up he couldnât do anything, he couldnât move â he was like a newborn, but nurses said he was following them with his eyes, so they said there was âsomeone in there.â”
After spending over two years in various hospitals, Daniel is now back at home, however, he requires a wheelchair and needs constant care.
âHeâs gradually coming back and is improving all the time,â Tracey added.
âHis long-term memory, things from childhood, he still remembers all that.
âAgain because Iâm his mum, Iâm just going to take it on board and do what I can, but it was a real strain. Because of COVID I wasnât really allowed into the hospital to learn from the nurses about different things like lifting and handling and with spinal cord injuries, there are things like bowel and bladder management and the skin is also very sensitive. It was just a complete lifestyle change.â