Doctors have confirmed that Phil Keinzley's mobility - and probably his life - had been hanging by a thread for a very long time.
An MRI scan at Wellington Hospital this week, following the Wairarapa United coach's car crash injury on May 9, revealed he had unwittingly been living with a potentially fatal neck injury.
Yesterday, the Wellington specialist caring for Mr Keinzley told him he was astonished that he was not a quadriplegic.
Only a tiny part of his spinal cord in the damaged part of his neck remains intact.
"It is far worse than we first thought," Mr Keinzley said.