Five years have passed since Yiannis Damianos broke his neck diving in Amarinthos on Euboea on Christmas Day to catch the crucifix, in an accident that shocked Greece. Today, Yiannis, who is confined to a wheelchair, says he knew from the first moment he was paralyzed and adds that “God is not a punisher.”

John, then 24, had made a vow to dive for the crucifix for the sake of his brother, who was suffering from leukaemia. However, the dive into the sea had a tragic outcome, as the young man hurt his neck – the water was shallow where he dived – leaving him a quadriplegic.

“It was an unfortunate moment.”

The description of the accident is chilling, while he talks to SKAI and the show Where There Is Greece about “an unfortunate moment.”

“It was an unfortunate moment. The water was murky, and I fell headfirst and broke my neck. I stayed 11 seconds in the water in shock… At that moment, I was doing sea water intake because I was face down in the water, I remember, and I don’t remember much. I didn’t feel pain, a numbness I felt all over my body, and just at some point, my father came and turned me over, and then my friends got together and got me out… There was no blood, I hadn’t hit a rock because that was heard too…, it was just shallow, and from the shock of hitting my head, my neck was broken,” he says and adds, “I knew from the start that I was paralysed. I realised I couldn’t move my arms or legs.”

Yiannis wanted to fulfill a vow he had made for his brother, John, who was then battling leukemia.

“I had also made a vow for my brother; it was the overall pressure I was under… It was to do this thing,” says Yiannis Damianos.

In a strange twist of fate, a year later, it was his brother who dove to catch the crucifix, this time for Yiannis.

The biggest battle of his life

For 55 days, Yiannis fought the biggest battle of his life in intensive care.

“I contracted chemical pneumonia and as a result, I spent two months in the Emergency Room and a total of a year in the hospital. It was very dangerous what I had because of the insufficiency of the seawater,” he says.

In response to the comments at the time, Yiannis replies: “I never said why God… Why did you do this to me? It was to be an unfortunate moment. God is not a judge, nor a punisher; it is anger that makes you sad. I was saying at first, why would I get it to such a degree? I was thinking, why not be able to move one of my arms a little bit? It would be convenient for me.”

By his side, a loyal friend and companion, was his wife Maria, whom he married two years after the accident.

“When a man is in a relationship and suffers such an injury, the shock is the same for both. I’m in a wheelchair, and Maria is going through this whole thing. The pain is heavy for both of them. Maria is strong,” he says.

“The help I received in the early days was from the world”.

In terms of the difficulties he faces, John states: “The state gives a disability allowance which is not even enough for the first ten days. The help I received the first time, and I thank them for that, was from the people.

At the same time, Yiannis Damianos passes on his own message: “In life I have won, I have not lost. Sure, there are moments when your psychology falls, but we are here to live“.