far from death. He sweated out the drug cravings, got certi-
fied in diesel maintenance, and learned to weld. He ran 10
miles a day, ate upwards of 6,000 daily calories, lifted weights,
and put on 40 pounds of muscle. Nine months later, Daniel
returned to Pensacola and dived into work.
Then came October 19, 2007. A Friday night. Daniel had
been working seven days a week, 10 to 14 hours a day, mak-
ing good money with no time to spend it. He was just 18,
but a plan was taking shape. Work for 10 years, keep saving
money. Buy a place in the country (cash, no mortgage) with
space for his tools, vehicles, and maybe a few animals. He
would start his own contracting company, be his own boss.
That Friday night, he clocked off the job—steel fabrica-
tion for a new U.S. Navy storage facility—around 7:30, after
working 93 hours in eight days. On the way home he stopped
by a friend’s house.
“Before I know it, I’m dead asleep,” Daniel recalls.
Two hours later, he awoke with a jolt. His friend urged
him to spend the night on the couch, but Daniel was riding
that work wheel—the iron adherence to routine so crucial
for people in recovery. He decided to make the 20-mile trip
home to sleep in his own bed.
Daniel headed out on a dark two-lane road. He nodded
off and brushed a guard rail. “I cranked up the radio and
reminded myself that home was less than 10 miles away,”
he says. “That’s the last thing I remember.”
Hours later he woke up in the ICU paralyzed from the
waist down. “My spinal cord was broken and one lung
crushed from being smashed against the center console
of my truck as it f lipped seven times,” he says. “Doc tells
me I coded once in the helicopter and again on the operat-
ing table, and made it clear that the only reason I survived▼Left: Mark Daniel climbs the stair challenge in the powered exoskeleton competition at Cybathlon 2016. ▼Right: Daniel traverses the
stepping stones during the exo competition. The team elected to have him skip the tilted ramp task, which had proven too risky during practice
runs at the IHMC lab in Pensacola.
PHOTOGRAPH/ILLUSTRATION BY TEEKAY NAME May/June 2020 35