Skydiver who crashed into house and feared he would never walk again is back on his feet

A skydiver who smashed into the gable end of a house said he was overcome with emotion when he realised he would walk again.

51-year-old Darren Crumpler was left dangling from a television aerial with multiple broken bones and in excruciating pain following the crash at Shotton Colliery in County Durham, in July last year.

His parachute got tangled on the house and the impact left him with an open fracture to his ankle, a shattered heel, broken femur, an open elbow fracture, broken pelvis, a spinal injury and a cut to his head.

The Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) was called out and medics flew him to the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, where he stayed for ten weeks.

Mr Crumpler was told he faced a long and uncertain recovery, so fondly recalled the moment he discovered that he would walk again.

He said:

"I was so scared as I had no indications of what my abilities would be."

Mr Crumpler, who is from Catterick, North Yorkshire, was on his second jump of the day when the crash happened.

He had taken up skydiving as a hobby two years earlier after his wife Emma bought him a parachuting experience as a gift.

A year later he was certified to the Accelerated Free Fall standard, and he was three jumps away from getting his full skydiving licence when he spiralled into the house.

He was left suspended above the ground, dangling from his harness. GNAAS paramedic Paul Burnage, who attended the incident, said: "Mr Crumpler was up against the gable end wall and was hanging by his harness with his parachute still attached and caught around the TV aerial.

Mr Crumpler, who served in the Army, thanked the ambulance medics:"What they do is extraordinary. My wife and I tell everyone about them."

"Now I just want to push myself and carry on, but I know I need to be patient."