A Christmas miracle
“No matter what anyone says, I’m going to run again”
ÖSV ski mountaineer Daniel Ganahl dreams of competing at the 2026 Olympics, until he suffers severe spinal and facial injuries in a training accident on 19 July and the doctors have to save his life in two emergency operations. The shock diagnosis afterwards: The 28-year-old would never be able to walk again. But things turn out very differently...
Flashback: July 19, 2024, shortly before 1 p.m.: Three days after his 28th birthday, ski mountaineer Daniel Ganahl is on a training ride on his racing bike in the Austrian-Bavarian border region. He heads down from Rossfeld to Schönau am Königssee. On the narrow, winding road in the Faselsberg district, a 68-year-old woman comes towards him in her car and turns left. "She overlooked me," believes the Montafon native, who has no memory of the accident. "I'm missing ten minutes before that." So he only knows what happened from stories. "I couldn't brake, crashed into the passenger side of the car, flew over the roof and landed eight or nine meters further into the ditch. I was responsive. My face was smashed in. That made it difficult to understand me. I was screaming for air because my windpipe was bleeding out," says "Dani", describing the shocking events.
Severe facial injuries
The emergency doctor, who was alerted immediately, performed a tracheotomy and Ganahl was flown to the hospital in Traunstein after receiving first aid. "My face was completely crushed, the left side of my face was displaced backwards by four centimetres," says Gaschurn, describing the first X-ray image he later saw. "The injuries were so severe that surgery in Traunstein was not possible and I was flown to the Murnau Accident Clinic, where I underwent emergency surgery." The operation was successful - Ganahl survived. "A young doctor in the intensive care unit told my friend Tamara that they'd never had anyone survive a crash like that before."
Second emergency operation
On the morning of July 20, a Saturday, the doctors brought him out of a deep sleep. A new problem arises. "The computer tomography of my back in Traunstein was unremarkable. But the MRI in Murnau produced a different result," Daniel recalls. "The 5th and 6th cervical vertebrae were broken, as were the 5th, 6th and 7th thoracic vertebrae." In addition, the spinous processes from the 1st to the 7th thoracic vertebrae were shattered. "But the worst thing was that the intervertebral disc between the 5th and 6th cervical vertebrae was pressed into my spinal cord." Another emergency operation is necessary.
A few days later, the doctors told the parents that they would have to convert their house to make it wheelchair-accessible and that their son would never be able to walk again. "That was really hard for those around me. I myself was still so full of medication at the time that I didn't even understand the implications," admits the army athlete.
Important support
He realized his situation a little later. "I was already able to control the left side of my body a little," says Dani. "There was still no strength, it wasn't controlled either. But I could move my arm. It was clear to me then: no matter what the doctors say, I'm going to run again. I'll prove it to them." Five weeks after the operation, Ganahl had a key experience: "I was clamped into a device in which I could make running movements without weight. It was a big 'aha' moment for me after a steep uphill climb."
Supported by his Tamara, who came to the clinic every afternoon, he began to fight for his dream. "I am brutally grateful that she has supported me so much. That's not something to be taken for granted," he says to the 29-year-old, herself an ultra runner. "In Murnau, there is a new spinal cord injury patient every day, so it's difficult for the staff to take more time for each individual. Thanks to Tamara, I had the personal attention I needed."
Special care - that works. On September 1, Ganahl posted a video on Instagram showing him - still wearing a neck brace - walking up a slight incline on his own in the park at the Murnau clinic. "That was the first time I walked 100 meters without help," Dani recalls. "It was an incredibly wonderful feeling. But it was even better when I was able to do other things on my own again. For example, when I no longer needed to be fed and could wash myself again. Seemingly normal things, but for a long time I was dependent on help from others."
"I want to give it a try "
After two months in Murnau, he was transferred to Bad Häring for rehab. "At that point, it was out of the question for me that I would ever do competitive sport again. I ran out of juice after 100 meters of altitude," admits Ganahl, who outgrew himself over the next two and a half months. "For many patients, the rehab period is very strenuous. For me, it was a blessing to be able to work on getting fit again. As a competitive athlete, I was always used to having a training plan that I could work through. In that sense, rehab was nothing different."
On November 28, the time has come: 132 days after his accident, he is allowed to return home to the Montafon. "I'm already so fit again that I want to try and get back into competitive sport," says Ganahl. "I still have problems with my triceps and two or three other little things. However, the bones have healed and I'm already going ski touring again."
Preferably with his Tamara, whom he has since proposed to. "And she said yes," grins Daniel, who can smile brightly again thanks to his new dental implants.
This article has been automatically translated,
read the original article here.
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