David Holmes was the 'other Harry Potter' for 10 years. Then he heard the sound of his neck breaking.

At 25, David Holmes was living the dream. He was 'the other Harry Potter', working as Daniel Radcliffe's stuntperson on the world's biggest film franchise, and was happily lost in a whirlwind of excitement and adventure.

Years of gymnastics training and pushing through childhood bullying had finally paid off. Holmes was soaring, literally and figuratively, on the sets that captured millions of imaginations worldwide.

He became something of a protective big brother to the wide-eyed pre-teens who would eventually become household names.

But life has a way of rewriting even the most magical scripts.

While rehearsing a routine stunt for the final Harry Potter film, something went terribly wrong.

Holmes still remembers every haunting detail: the wire's snap, the sickening sound of his neck breaking, the strange clarity of remaining conscious as paramedics rushed to his side.

Today, he calls his injury "the gift that keeps on taking."

First, listen to David Holmes on Mamamia's No Filter. Post continues below.

The boy who lived.

Holmes stepped into the wizarding world at the age of 17. His small stature made him the perfect double for an 11-year-old Radcliffe. But his contribution went far beyond stunts.

"I'm the Hermione when the troll smashes through the bathroom doors," Holmes told Mamamia's No Filter. "I'm the Ron sitting on the back of the horses he gets hit with on the chest piece. I'm the Malfoy in the Quidditch match, flying off of his broom."

During filming of The Deathly Hallows: Part 1 in 2009, the page turned to a chapter no one saw coming.

The stunt was routine — Holmes was to be pulled back by a harness attached to a pulley system and sent flying into a wall. But the wire broke. The sound of his neck snapping is forever etched in his memory.

"My spinal cord separated at the C 67 vertebrae just at the bottom of your neck before your thorax starts," he recalled. "I was instantly paralysed from that moment."

Fifteen years have passed, and the anniversaries never get easier.

"Soon I'm going to be in a wheelchair longer than I was on legs," Holmes said.

Slipping between consciousness and darkness as he was rushed to hospital, Holmes woke up to a reality he never imagined for himself.

"You're stripped back to how you were as a toddler — so vulnerable, so needy," Holmes said. "People needed to feed me, people needed to dress me, wash me, you name it, and then gruelling rehabilitation."

David has written a book and documentary about his life called, The Boy Who Lived.

A brotherhood bond.

It was in this darkest moment that the true magic of the Potter family revealed itself.

Despite the intense pressure of finishing the final film, Radcliffe and his castmates visited Holmes in hospital.

"They were young to have to see me like that, with wires in me and stuff hanging out my nose," Holmes reflected. "For me being brave for them on camera all those years... they got the opportunity to flip that and be brave for me."

Their connection endures beautifully today. Radcliffe collaborated with Holmes on his documentary The Boy Who Lived and remains one of his most steadfast supporters.

"I could not be prouder of who he is," Holmes said of Radcliffe. "He's a great human being that will sacrifice his life to make sure other people stay employed."

Perhaps the depth of their bond is best captured in Radcliffe's own words from the documentary, where he describes Holmes as "the older brother he'd spent his whole life wanting."

David with Matthew Lewis and Tom Felton from Harry Potter. Image: Supplied.

Finding light in the darkness.

For someone forced to reimagine his future, Holmes radiates surprising warmth and optimism.

"What's worse than breaking your neck is the pain in your loved one's eyes," he said.

This realisation led him to let go of what he couldn't control.

"Life is hard, broken neck or not," he said, adding that getting to exist is a gift, but it comes with a lesson of loss.

"I learned that lesson at 25, and it made me make peace with the fact it teaches you gratitude. I am here today, now. Where am I going to be in 10 years' time, in my body? I can't tell you… it forces me to be here now to take in the day."

Holmes' candour isn't just philosophical, it's refreshingly real.

"I can't have control of my bowel routine," he said. "So that means I've had more hands up my ass than the cast of The Muppets."

"I've crapped myself everywhere — top of mountains, film premieres, you name it … it never gets easier. But if you can find the joy and humour after it, it gets a little bit more digestible. So I always just laugh at myself."

David and Daniel during Harry Potter filming. Image: Supplied

Love after loss.

Just like everyone says, love finds you when you least expect it. This is a truth Holmes discovered firsthand with Rosie, a C-4 quadriplegic he met while renting her property in Spain.

"We don't connect over our injuries," he said. "We connect over our love for each other and our shared experience of being loved by great families and friends and committed care teams."

What they've found together transcends physical limitations.

"What we can feel is phenomenal," he said.

"Our shared life experience when we go on holiday together, it means more because we have to work harder for it. And every orgasm that we both give each other, it means more because we're having an orgasm below our level of injury, something that most people say is unachievable."

Holmes speaks about his sex life without a hint of embarrassment. He wants the world to know that he and Rosie, two quadriplegics, are having the best sex of their lives.

"I didn't think that sharing life and love outside my support network and friends was on my journey," he said.

But Rosie proved him wonderfully wrong.

"The gift of my life now is my Rosie, and I'm very, very grateful," Holmes said. "I love it dearly, and despite how hard it is for both of us, it's the most beautiful spiritual thing that I've experienced."

Of course, their journey hasn't been without awkward moments, like getting stuck during sex and needing help. But they find light in every challenge.

"We can either make light of it and embrace it as a comedic moment, or we can let it really break us down," Holmes said. "And I refuse not to find sh*t funny, because everything in life is laughable."

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Transforming tragedy into triumph.

When life dealt Holmes an unimaginable hand, he reshuffled the deck entirely.

From writing a novel to collaborating with Radcliffe on a documentary, launching a podcast, and becoming a voice for disability rights, Holmes has refused to be defined by limitation.

After the accident, Holmes made one thing clear to those who love him: hope for his happiness as he is now, not as they wish he could be.

"Everybody looks at my story and goes, 'Elon Musk's gonna get you walking again' or 'we're gonna end paralysis'," he said.

"We should also push for a society that sees me and accepts me for who I am.

"Regardless of whether spinal cord injuries become fixable, there will always be people who need wheelchairs."

It's impossible not to be moved by the beautiful contradiction at the heart of his journey. The very film set where he was injured also created something that brings comfort to millions worldwide.

"There are kids in conflict zones right now, petrified… their parents put Harry Potter on a phone in front of them, and it helps them escape their reality," he said.

"There are people struggling with mental health issues right now that are always like turning to those films to help them get through a tough time. I'm very, very grateful that I was able to contribute to that fact for tons and tons of people."

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Today, Holmes shares something perhaps even more powerful than movie magic — authentic hope rooted in lived experience.

"I get to share my perspective, and hopefully someone goes, 'That's helped me today'," he said.

"We get one chance in life. The best thing is sharing, to share the experience of being a dumb monkey on a rock, spinning through space with a load of other dumb monkeys on a rock."

It's his final thought that lingers longest.

"There'll be a generation of people behind me that have a spinal cord injury that will be like that lost little boy that I was in hospital feeling like hope is all gone. And then maybe, just maybe, they might find my journey and my story, and it might give them hope."

Holmes' story isn't just about disability. It's about finding meaning in life's unexpected turns, whatever form they take.

Feature image: Supplied.