David (35) built a career in the hospitality industry after studying accounting, a social study, and attending the secondary and higher hotel school. He moved to Amsterdam, where he was the manager of a large hospitality business at Rembrandt Square for eight years. Then he opened his own place, Bar Hendrik, in Amsterdam-Zuid. "We've had huge highs, but also deep lows, especially during corona," he says. Eventually, he sold the business and went back to work as a manager. Not long after, in April 2025, a snowboarding accident changed his life.
During a winter sports vacation with friends, David fell hard. He sustained an incomplete spinal cord injury at the level of his eighth thoracic vertebra (T8). He also broke twelve ribs and three vertebrae and suffered a perforated lung.
"I've been snowboarding for years and I'm quite a good snowboarder, but I wasn't wearing a back protector ."
David was aware of the existence of back protectors. Still, he didn't wear one. 'You think: that won't happen to me.'
Due to his spinal cord injury, he had to say goodbye to the job he enjoyed so much. David loved interacting with people, but he also enjoyed entrepreneurship. 'I found the social aspect super fun, but there’s also a commercial part that I found interesting. That was really my thing. But what I did, I can’t do anymore. In the hospitality industry, you stand and walk all day. That just doesn’t work anymore.'
After his accident, David also had to leave his home. He had lived happily for eleven years in an apartment on the third floor in Amsterdam's Scheldestraat, but after his accident, the stairs made it no longer suitable. He now lives in a wheelchair-accessible home with a garden. 'That has ultimately become a really nice place too.""I'm very happy about that."
Looking back on his own accident, there are two messages that David finds important to share.
"Wear a back protector. Whether you're skiing, snowboarding, motorcycling, or horseback riding, it doesn't matter."
Additionally, he warns parents to keep a close eye on their children in shallow water. During his rehabilitation at De Hoogstraat in Utrecht, he met several people who suffered a high spinal cord injury due to a diving accident. "A high spinal cord injury often has much greater consequences, for example, for hand function. I think it's important to warn people about that."
David's recovery is still very much in progress. "It's just over a year ago now, and I still notice progress. That's what I'm focusing on right now." His days are largely dedicated to recovery."I train, go to physiotherapy about three times a week, swim, and follow various therapies. In addition, I've started investing in stocks to get the hang of it. I keep myself busy."
He also follows the developments in research for a solution to spinal cord injury with great interest, although he remains realistic. "Of course, I hope that a medication will come. But I also know how slowly the medical world can sometimes move, especially in Europe. And because my spinal cord injury is incomplete and I am still recovering, I would also find it exciting to participate in an experimental treatment right now. But I am certainly confident that there will eventually be a medication or other solution."
