Former St Helens coach Daniel Anderson says he is fortunate to be alive after being left a quadriplegic in a bodysurfing accident in Australia in December.
The 56-year-old went into cardiac arrest after the incident and had to be dragged from the water.
His life was saved by two off-duty paramedics who were on the beach in Central Coast, New South Wales.
“I’m very lucky the paramedics were there,” said Australian Anderson.
“I was obviously in a bad way. If they weren’t there, who knows how it would have finished up.”
Anderson guided Saints to the League Leaders Shield, Super League Grand Final and Challenge Cup treble in 2006. He was named BBC Sports Personality Coach of the Year later that year.
Saints won the Challenge Cup in 2007 and 2008 and the World Club Challenge in 2007, as well reaching the Grand Final in 2007 and 2008.
In his first interview since the accident, Anderson said X-rays showed severe compression of his spinal cord and he was classified as an incomplete quadriplegic.
“Incomplete means that you can get little bits back but some things you never can,” he told the Daily Telegraph in Australia.
“No-one can tell you categorically what, if any, movement you get back, but after four days I was wiggling my big toe.
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