Never Say Die
Lynne Barrett-Lee, Melanie Davies

Never Say Die

…I don’t know how long it was before I fully woke up, but when I did, everything felt different. My eyes opened and for a moment it seemed that I must have been hit on the head. There was no pain at all, but a face loomed above me. A manly face. Rugged. Unfamiliar. Concerned. I wanted him to save me, but straight away I noticed that there was worry in his expression and sadness in his eyes. He asked me a question, but I didn’t really hear it. I felt terrified. Why was he looking at me that way? Then he asked me again, and this time I did hear. “Can you,” he asked, “move your feet for me, sweetheart?” I had no choice but to answer with a question of my own, because I didn’t understand what was happening. Where were they? Where were my feet and my legs? Where was the rest of my body?...

On a Saturday morning in May 1980, Melanie Davies, a pretty fifteen year old, ran down the stairs of her parents’ home in Port Talbot, grabbed her leather jacket and crash helmet and yelled a goodbye, then walked out of the front door and into the sunshine for what was to be the last time in her life. ‘Never Say Die'’ is the story of what followed…

Since the motorcycle crash that left her paralysed, Melanie’s life has been one of extremes. On the down side, she has endured 5 horrific months of despair and indignity in rehabilitation, undergone a colostomy at 23, been in another serious car smash, suffered syringomyelia and the terrifying prospect of full quadriplegia, been diagnosed with breast cancer and broken several bones.

On the plus side, however, she’s won medals in athletics for Wales, been humbled and inspired by Falklands veterans at RAF Chessington, raised thousands for charity, become a major disability poster girl in America, dabbled with the film world and been screen tested for a movie, met the Queen, and set up her own rehabilitation charity, whose patrons include the acclaimed actor Michael Sheen, Dame Tanni Grey Thompson and former Welsh Rugby captain, Gwyn Jones.

She has also, against all the odds, found lasting happiness, having married the surgeon who 25 years earlier told her she’d never walk again.

Book Details:

  • Author: Lynne Barrett-Lee, , Melanie Davies
  • Published Year: 2009
  • Rights Sold
    • UK: Harper Collins
    • Poland: Hachette
Lynne Barrett-Lee,

Lynne Barrett-Lee,

Lynne Barrett-Lee was born in London and became a fulltime writer shortly after moving to Cardiff in 1994. She is the author of ten novels, including her acclaimed debut, Julia Gets a Life, and Barefoot in the Dark, which was shortlisted for the 2007 Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance. Her novels have been translated into several languages and she has also contributed two titles (one ghostwritten for television presenter Fiona Phillips) to the UK’s Quick Reads Campaign, which provides easy-to-read books for adult emergent readers. Most recently, Lynne has returned to h...
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Melanie Davies

Melanie Davies

Melanie Davies (nee Bowen) was adopted as a baby and grew up in Port Talbot. Since her accident in 1980, she has been involved in a variety of Charitable endeavours both in the UK and US and, in 2000, set up her own charitable trust; ‘TREAT’*. Its aim is to build a state of the Art rehabilitation and therapy centre to meet the needs of the people of South West Wales.She married Retired Orthopaedic Surgeon Mike Davies, in 2004, three years after them being reunited by Mels’s charity, following his first wife’s tragic death from a stroke. Since their marriage, Mel and ...
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