This is the story of how my summer of 2015 received an unexpected turn. I’m a guy from Sweden who travels to Holland for parties, as often as I can. Since my first party, Qlimax 2010, I have been at about 30 festivals, including Mysteryland, Qapital, Defqon.1 Australia and Dominator.
The summer had started absolutely wonderful. I went to Intents Festival in June and had great fun there. Then it was time for Defqon.1 Festival. It was easily one of my best festivals I’ve ever been to. There was lots of partying at the campsite with great friends and good much music. After that it was time for the trip to Dominator where everything took that unexpected turn.
I had had my first week of holiday from work and was really excited to go to my third Dominator. I usually go with a company which organizes bus trips to the event from Sweden, which I think is the best and funniest way imaginable. You can party during the trip, and meet other people who are dedicated to the music as well.
So Friday night before we went to the bus, as all other times before, I sat and drank beer with some mates and listened to livesets from older parties. It was time to go to the place where the bus would pick us up to go to Holland. On the bus, I met all the friends I have come to know through these trips. The atmosphere on the bus was absolutely great! We continued to drink beer and started our journey to Dominator.
Everyone on the bus was excited for this year’s edition, so everyone partied and had fun. The bus drove through Sweden and further through Denmark. Eventually we reached the ferry that would take us to Germany. The bus drove aboard the ferry and we went upstairs on the deck. After some more partying it was time to go downstairs, because the bus would continue the tip. On my way to the bus I had the brilliant idea (not..) to sit on the stair railing and slide down, instead of just walking downstairs. It didn’t end very well, because I fell backwards, approximately 3 meters down and landed flat on my back. Everything happened so fast, one minute I was sitting on the stair railing and suddenly after I was on the floor. My back felt a little soar, but it didn’t hurt too much so after a while I stood up again and limped down to the bus.
On the bus people asked me what had happened and if I was in pain, but I didn’t want them to worry, so I took some painkillers against the worst. The bus drove on towards Dominator, and when we arrived everyone was really excited. It was an absolutely lovely day, the sun was shining and the DJ’s played heavy Hardcore/Rawstyle/Terror. I walked around and enjoyed all the good music. Warfare did a really good set at the Raw stage and Angerfist played hard at the Mainstage. Even though my back started to hurt more I had great fun partying with my friends. After the impressive Endshow it was time to go home again, so we went to the bus.
On the way home it began to hurt even more hurt and I decided it might be better if I went to the doctor at home. I didn’t think it could be anything serious, but it wouldn’t ‘hurt’ to get a professional opinion. I came home early on Sunday evening and made an appointment at the hospital the following day to check the damage. I drove to the hospital the next day and did an X-ray. When the results were in, the nurse was shocked when she saw the pictures. They showed me that I had a fracture of both the lower back and neck. I just sat there with my mouth wide open. The picture above is from that day at Dominator, where I already had the fractures without me knowing about it.
Now, as I sit here 4 months later, I’ve had two surgeries in the neck and rigid surgery on four vertebrae. I’ve been away from work since it happened and will, at best, be restored and working again in 3 months from now. It has been a long way, and I have been forced to wear a cervical collar and corset around my back and take things very easy. I had to put parties on the shelf for a while. I felt like shit, because I had to miss Mysteryland and Q-BASE because of this stupid drunk idea.
I’ve mostly been resting at home, listening to hardstyle/hardcore and looking ahead. I kept hoping that I would soon be back in Holland at my favourite parties. With this story I wanted to tell you how easy it is to hurt yourself badly. My injury could have killed me, and the doctors say I’ve been very lucky that I’m not paralyzed. This is a warning to all people who love to party drunk. It’s all fun and games until someone loses their life. So please, be careful out there!
I must thank all my friends who helped me and cared for me. They have motivated me to fight through these dark times. I couldn’t have wished for more. You are the best!
