celebrity news
HEALED BY LOVE
Grant’s back
ON HIS FEET
TV star Grant Denyer’s stunt-loving exploits came to a grinding halt
in a sickening crash. Six weeks later, with girlfriend Cheryl Rogers by
his side, the It Takes Two host has taken his first steps towards recovery
G
rant Denyer tilted
the back of his
adjustable bed as
high as he dared.
He flicked on his giant TV
and, as the recent Bathurst
1000 roared into life, he tensed
his body ready for action.
‘My body was behaving as
if I was driving,’ says Grant,
who was due to have raced in
three events that day. ‘I knew
the track so intimately I was
anticipating each move. But
I didn’t realise I was doing
it until Cheryl pointed out
that I was leaning as the
cars went into the corners.’
It’s just over a month since
Grant, 31, was in a Monster
Truck crash – and it
recovery from
Grant should make a much quicker
Cheryl’s tender loving care means
his medication.
him
s
give
she
and
e
bath
and
s
his horrific crash. She helps him dres
16 New Idea
was an accident that left he
and girlfriend Cheryl Rogers,
28, fearing the popular TV star
would never walk again.
crashing to earth
Grant shattered his lower
vertebrae into six pieces, and
is now a centimetre shorter
than before the crash. But
surgeons say he was incredibly
lucky to have suffered no
permanent nerve damage.
After three weeks in hospital
and a further two weeks resting
at the Sydney apartment they
share, the ebullient race car
driver is already back on his
feet. But the former Sunrise
weatherman’s steps are
tentative and he has to
lie down most of the time –
sitting isn’t an option.
To stand, Grant wears
a custom-made body brace
– ‘medical Tupperware’ as he
calls it. He needs a walking aid
to hobble about, but the fact
he can stand and walk at all
is testament to his will, and
Cheryl’s love and support.
wake-up call
‘The accident was a huge
shock to me,’ says Grant, who’s
still traumatised by terrifying
recurring nightmares.
‘It was like pulling the
handbrake on a life lived flat
out for seven days a week for
the past seven years. I’ve
always been a highly driven,
goal-oriented individual. This
has forced me to re-evaluate
life, who I am, and what
means most to me,’ he says.
‘I guess I’d done such
amazing stunts with Sunrise,
and remained relatively
injury-free, that I had
something of a Superman
Ecstasy and agony: Action man Gran
t’s all smiles
(left) doing what he loves best. Abov
e: His face
shows the pain after the fateful sma
sh.
Grant’s lucky to have attentive
Cheryl providing round-the-clock
care for him at their Sydney
home. Fingers crossed, he’ll be
back on deck to host Carols in
The Domain and will return to
his high-profile TV career and
daredevil ways before too long.
complex. I thought I was
immortal. Well, I don’t now.’
Certainly it’s fair to say the
man who began his TV career
as a news reporter in Wagga
Wagga, NSW, has lived his life
as if there were no tomorrow.
state of shock
He has five Guinness World
Records, a reputation as a
tenacious driver on the track
and he and Cheryl’s Sydney
flat is full of mementos of his
diverse career, including the
guitar he used as a prop on
Dancing with the Stars – and
the glittering prize he won.
But if Grant has long been
a much-loved personality, the
woman who supports him has
remained, until now, out of the
‘
by the end of the day.
When Cheryl rang his
mobile, she was told
what had happened.
‘At first I just stood
there in total shock.
I felt sick,’ she says.
‘He was in Wollongong
and I just wanted to be
by his side. But he’d
taken my car, which
had my wallet in it. So
I ran around the house
collecting change to
get a taxi. In the end a friend
drove me. Then I travelled in
the ambulance with him to
St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney.
‘He’d been given some drugs
and was a bit out of it,’ she
says. ‘He kept saying: “If this is
what an epidural is like I want
I used to think I was immortal…
Superman. Well, I don’t now
limelight. Cheryl, who met
Grant while working on
Sunrise, quietly admits:
‘Grant is the love of my life.’
On the day of the accident
for once she wasn’t trackside
and started to worry when
she hadn’t heard from him
18 New Idea
’
to be pregnant.” I was scared. It
was the worst night of my life.’
The next few weeks passed
by in a daze at the hospital.
‘It’s so awful to see someone
you love so deeply in so much
pain,’ Cheryl says. ‘And he
kept wanting to get up. At
one point I had to tie him to
the bed with a spare pair of
compression socks just to stop
him wandering and potentially
doing more damage.’
tender care
Back at home Cheryl gets up
every four hours to give Grant
his medication. ‘I feed him and
help him wash. It’s like having
a baby,’ she says. ‘But otherwise
he mightn’t have been able to
leave hospital so soon.’
Even before the accident
she used to tell him: ‘You’re my
champion of the world.’ Now
she’s his nurse but she can’t
wait to give him a proper hug.
Their relationship is stronger.
‘Physically, it’s tough,’ he says.
‘Emotionally, it’s crippling.’
They’ve set a date for Grant’s
professional comeback –
hosting Sydney’s Carols in
The Domain on December 20.
And Christmas will be
a three-state hop. ‘Melbourne
for Christmas Day to see my
mum Glynis; Bathurst for
Boxing Day to see Cheryl’s
family; and up to the Gold
Coast to see my dad Craig.
Family’s important,’ Grant says.
But there are no plans to
formalise their relationship.
‘I’d have to be able to walk
up the aisle first,’ Grant quips.
Cheryl adds: ‘And first we
have to get over this. But
I know we’ll get there.’
By Jo Knowsley
Main pictures: Cliff Kent