Victim of alleged Adelaide bashing attack speaks about his road to recovery and coming out of coma
The victim of an alleged bashing attack has broken his silence about what his life has been like since the horror.
Adelaide man Jordan Dodd, 20, spoke exclusively with 7NEWS on Tuesday about surviving the alleged attack in Hindley Street in August.
He was allegedly coward punched, repeatedly bashed and stomped on during a night out with his girlfriend.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Dodd said he was told he was lucky to be alive.
“I couldn’t feel my right side, I had to force myself to walk again,” he told 7NEWS.
“I used to be right-handed and now I’m left-handed and do everything with my left.”
His girlfriend Dakota Leo said he was in a coma and she thought he wasn’t going to make it.
“I got told, or the whole family got told, to brace for the worst,” she said.
“He didn’t open his eyes for three weeks, which is what made the doctors go, ‘that’s a bit alarming’, because when you are in a coma you should get a twitch, but he wasn’t moving.”
Dodd underwent major brain surgery to relieve the swelling and his family were told if he did survive, he would likely be brain dead.
But slowly he opened his eyes, and then had to learn how to walk and talk again.
He is grateful for help from the nurses and doctors but knows his life will never be quite the same, and he’ll need regular rehab for years to come.
“I can’t celebrate my 21st, I can’t go out, I will never play sport again,” Dodd said.
The 23-year-old man accused of attacking him, Craig Sansbury-Weetra faced the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
He is yet to indicate how he will plea to charges of recklessly cause harm, and cause harm.
