Waiting for Lightning Page #6

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coming home in a lot of pain

and describing the story,

and I was like,

"Yeah, whatever. Surfing".

And then he's like, "No, no, no.

It's really bad".

He was

very afraid then.

He didn't know if he was

ever gonna skateboard again.

He was

in a lot of pain,

and he went to try

to relieve some of the pain,

and a chiropractor

complicated things

and made things worse

instead of better.

There was some concerns

that he wasn't gonna

be 100% ever again.

I didn't have

any experience

with medical trainers.

Skateboarding was never

sophisticated in that way,

so when I finally got hurt

at the level where I needed,

like, real serious attention

from legitimate doctors,

it wasn't available.

I remember

visiting him,

and I had to lift him

out of the bathtub.

I was only there

for a week.

He dealt with so much

of this on his own,

like, literally at home

with a broken neck.

I'd watched him

for six months

going from doctor

to doctor.

He was all over the map

just trying to find

some sort of solution.

When Danny came to me,

he'd already had

the injury for six months.

Danny's neck

was like stone.

Any movement of his neck could

literally tear his spinal cord.

So, you know, I knew

I had my hands full,

and I knew that this was

a coin toss at very best.

That moment

in time was one

of the darkest moments

I've had in my whole life.

My motivation was out the door,

like, I just wanted to give up.

I said, "Danny, I'm gonna need

you to bring a skateboard here,

and I just need

to see you ride it".

He said, "Paul, I can't

ride a skateboard".

I said, "Danny,

look, I don't want

to delude you into thinking

you can be fixed up

because this is

a career-ending injury".

When he's not skating

or he's not skating well,

he himself doesn't have the same

confidence when he walks around.

At that time,

he was emotionally...

and confidence was a lot lower

than I'd seen him before that.

Danny was

literally sweating

when he took

the skateboard out.

You could see he was

paralyzed with fear.

Whenever you have

a traumatic injury

or life-threatening

situation,

it's time

for reflection.

Can you handle now

not being invincible?

Athletes

are used to winning

because they're exercising

their strengths.

So all of a sudden

when they are left

without their strength,

they have to explore

their weakness.

When you get hurt,

you kind of analyze yourself

and question

why you're doing it,

what you're doing it for,

will you be able to do it again,

and all those things

that dictate

whether you're just good

or you're great.

We have Danny Way

riding for Plan B.

He was told

he would never be able

to compete

as a skateboarder again.

Four months from the day

he walked into my office,

he won his first contest

back on a skateboard.

All right, Danny!

Let's hear it

for Danny Way!

It was really

quite a moment of joy

and celebration

for both of us,

because I saw

the warrior in there.

I saw everything

a great coach

or therapist hopes that

they can see in people

because it's really

the stuff of genius.

Danny was in and out.

You didn't see him all

the time,

but when you did, you're like,

"Whoa, it's Danny Way".

There was a lot

going on with him

at that point,

and a lot more drive.

The injury kind of

taught him

"I might not have another

chance to do this".

He's always

gonna rise up.

Man's broken his neck and was

out, never gonna skate again.

Well, that was just another

challenge for him.

Physically, mentally...

You just can't

break this dude.

I saw Danny, I hadn't

seen him forever,

and he was going so hard,

just attacking it.

The vert ramp

couldn't contain Danny.

The ramp was

too small for this dude.

If you built something bigger,

it could show his real ability.

Mike and I had

always talked about building

these monster oversized ramps

that'd break the world record.

But the ramp size

that I need to build

is gonna cost

too much money

and when would

that ever happen.

But Mike was always

like, "It'll happen.

One day we'll get it

figured out".

Once DC started,

it was all about the finances

to do something

like this,

and Ken and me realized

if you built something bigger,

it could showcase

Danny's ability way more.

For me,

Mike Ternasky

is probably

the biggest inspiration.

He was very good

at putting people

in situations

for them to succeed,

so I wanted to facilitate

ways for Danny

to explore his talents

and to expand

upon it.

Making Danny's vision

come to life wasn't easy.

Driving up

to this airfield,

I see, like,

what looks like a quarterpipe.

I'm looking,

and I was like, "Holy sh*t!

What is going to go down

on this right now?"

# Welcome to my world #

# Won't you come on in #

# Miracles, I guess #

# Still happen

now and then #

# Step into my heart #

# Leave your cares behind #

# Welcome to my world #

# Built with you in mind #

I remember

talking to him,

and he's like, "We're gonna

pull the helicopter in,

and I'm gonna jump

out of the helicopter".

I was like, "You're gonna jump out

of the helicopter into the ramp?"

I'm like, "Are you kidding?

Is he kidding?"

"Is he joking?"

"He's not joking".

Like, they would

let you do that?

They're gonna let you

get in the helicopter...

like, they can keep it up...

they're gonna let you do that?

He's like, "Yeah, we're

gonna do it right now".

"Okay," and then I thought,

"Are they messing with me?"

I end up getting in

with Danny.

It was pretty crazy

seeing him, like, filming him,

I'm like, "Holy sh*t,

this dude's jumping

out of a helicopter

into a ramp right now".

It went

from this incredible day

to "I'm about to watch

this insane disaster".

If it goes too early, you're

jumping 15 feet to coping.

If you jump just

a little bit off,

you're jumping 30 feet

to the flat ground.

I was, like,

so sketched out...

like, I was so off

in the corner

just, like, on each one,

just like, "Ooh!"

Him jumping out

of the helicopter

I thought was

the coolest thing ever.

I was just like,

"Oh, my god!"

It was

absolutely mind-blowing.

When he landed

into that thing,

it felt so

absolutely incredible.

Everybody was gonna

have to step up

after seeing that

in the magazine.

That's Danny.

He dreamed something up

that nobody else

on this planet would have,

and just figured out

how to make it reality.

Tim was amazed

that Danny

had even visioned

that ramp,

and that

it could be skated.

He was pretty proud.

Shortly after that,

Danny got married

and had a son, Ryden.

Danny was a father

similar to Tim.

It was like dj vu

all over again.

What Tim planted

in Danny

was the opportunity

to experience his capabilities.

That stayed with Danny.

He knew he could overcome

pretty much anything

that was put

in front of him.

Everybody

grows up different.

I think Danny

had a hard time,

and skateboarding

was his... his thing.

It was like going

to a doctor,

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