Master of Ceremonies John McDonald recalls horrifying parachute accident: "It completely collapsed and then I fell about 70 foot"

Known as the PDC's Master of Ceremonies, John McDonald was involved in the latest episode of the Darts Show podcast.

Among the topics included McDonald's past in the paratroopers where he had a horrifying accident which he recalled.

"On this particular battalion exercise, we'd had a horrific time. We'd lost three guys with parachute accidents and there was a new chute involved and wasn't exactly sure whether it was the right thing for the job. I was only about nine stone so the lighter you are the more equipment you get to bring to the drop zone. Bearing in mind, paratroopers had to take everything. We had to put it all on our back," said McDonald to The Darts Show Podcast.

"Went out the door pitch black and the chute opened but I was in twists. Very common, I started to kick out and I realized I couldn't lower the equipment and I was getting more and more tangled. I was literally feet from the ground at that point when someone went underneath me and stole the air from the parachute, it completely collapsed and then I fell about 70 foot, upside down, feet were still in the rigging lines. All the equipment is still on into the ground, I remember nothing. Woke up six weeks later in a military hospital, couldn't move a muscle, couldn't feel any part of my body apart from my face.

"You can imagine the kind of extent of that damage, I don't think on that medical list there was too many areas of my body that was ticked. I promptly spent the next 18 months trying to get back to normal. I'd crushed the C5 and C6 vertebrae at the top of my spine which meant I was paralyzed. I was paralyzed to the extent where every day I could feel something, it was like having this tremendous pins and needles."

"Suddenly I could feel it and I was probably the only one that wasn't concerned."