In 1999, as a first-year student at Otago University, Dan was playing a game of club rugby when his neck was broken in a scrum, leaving him tetraplegic. What followed was a formative time, to say the least; his time at the Burwood Spinal Unit was a journey unto its own. 

Following this, he dived deep into the world of wheelchair rugby, which he credits with accelerating his pathway back into living a full life. The people he met and learned from became good mates, guides and mentors. Sport, balanced with study, allowed him to travel around the globe, including the incomparable highlight of being part of the Wheel Blacks team that won gold at the Athens 2004 Paralympics. In 2017, he took up track racing, competing in the New York marathon while raising money for research into spinal cord injury and, in 2019, he broke the national record for the half marathon in the T52 classification. Dan’s media career led him to Attitude Pictures, then to Able, where as chief executive he has joined an organisation passionate about making media accessible.  He sits on boards including Drug Free Sport New Zealand, the Attitude Trust and the Screen Production and Development Association. As a father of two, he navigates the particularities of parenting from a wheelchair, with wife Samantha.  

Dan is grateful to have had wonderful opportunities in life and for the work of advocates who came before him. He’s excited by a future where those with disabilities are visible and in the lead. The Rugby Foundation has always been a fantastic backstop, he says, and a source of unwavering support for him, especially with his sporting career.  

Article added: Tuesday 31 October 2023