When Durban's famous flamboyant panto dame, Darren King, danced, sang and "ran around like a headless chicken" at last night's opening of Sleeping Beauty, few in the audience knew what a "miracle" it was.
For King, who plays Cecily Knickersnagger, Princess Rose's faithful nurse, in the Christmas pantomime at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre, became an instant quadri-plegic last December.
"I never thought I would feed myself with a spoon, never mind perform in front of 450 people in a dress, high heels and head-dress," he said before the curtain went up.
Tragedy struck during last year's panto, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, when King was playing the over-the-top wicked witch. It was the cast's day off and they had gone to the Bluff to director Steven Stead's home for a braai and |to swim in the sea.
When King dived in, the incorrect angle of his dive and the pressure of the waves, left him with two fractured vertebrae in his neck and a pinched spinal cord.
His friends raced to the rescue and carefully carried him out of the sea and up the beach - a factor that would play a part in his ultimate recovery - and taken to Entabeni Hospital.
"There was a strong possibility that my condition would remain permanent; there was no reason to believe I would recover. But denial and morphine was a great combin-ation," he recalled.
King was completely immobilised in his hospital bed until a special non-invasive halo brace that he wanted was flown out from overseas.
He was in the brace for four-and-a-half months and in another for three months.
Within five days of the accident, he began to feel a flicker of movement in his toes then his legs and feet began working slightly and he could shuffle around the ward with help.
He was well enough to return home for the New Year and eventually transferred to Entabeni's rehabilitation unit where he worked with various therapists. Then he began working with a personal trainer to get his stamina back.
Amazingly, he was fit enough to return to work at |a Johannesburg theatre in October, and when asked if he could play Durban's dame again, he did not hesitate, even though he is still not 100%.
He cannot feel hot and cold on his right side, while his left is slower than his right.
"I feel as if I have come full circle."
He will visit his neuro-surgeon, Dr Retief van der Merwe, for another check-up on the 19th: the first anniversary of his accident.
"Of course I am going to give him tickets so he and his family can come and see Sleeping Beauty," said King, who often pops back to the rehab unit to cheer up patients.