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Fighting back from devastating injury - THURSDAY JULY 29, 2010

BIG MOMENT: Darryl Sabin and Graham Henry in the All Blacks changing room at Eden Park after New Zealand beat the Springboks 32-12 in their opening Tri-Nations clash.

Rugby nearly killed Darryl Sabin _ and it's playing a pivotal role in bringing his damaged body back to life.
When 19-year-old Darryl went down in a heavy tackle when playing the game he loves in April last year he got a serious head injury causing a severe bleed on his brain.
While he was in critical care in hospital at Auckland, Graham Henry was visiting a relative in the same ward.
Darryl's father, P-busting ex-policeman Mike Sabin, said the All Black coach had challenged the injured teenager to regain his health so he could watch from the sideline while the New Zealand team played a rugby test match.
On his admission to hospital, doctors had told Darryl's family the young man would be dead in hours. Then they said that if he survived he would be a vegetable.
But Darryl took up the challenge. After a month in hospital and over four months in a serious brain injury rehabilitation centre he returned home to Coopers Beach in a wheelchair and started spending up to four hours a day working out in a gymnasium.
Today he can walk kilometres, press 85kg and deadlift 140kg.
He watched from the sideline when the All Blacks took the spring out of the Boks 32-12 at Eden Park on July10 and was invited into the AB's changing room for a yarn with the boys after the game.
Mike Sabin said that Graham Henry believed Darryl's grit was inspirational for the team.
"The players admire his dedication. They treat him like he's in the squad."
After Eden Park, Graham Henry said that Darryl brought the All Blacks good luck so he'd have to get to Wellington for the second round against the Boks.
The air travel involved had meant a major effort for Darryl, but Mr Sabin said he had walked unassisted on to the plane, again watched an All Black triumph from the sideline and walked unassisted into the Cake Tin changing room afterward.
"The game that nearly killed Darryl is playing a major part in his recovery," Mr Sabin said.
"He says he feels brilliant. He cherishes every day. I call him the Darryl-plus model.
"He's making a miraculous recovery because he's prepared to do the work. It's only his body that is damaged _ his personality is unchanged."