Life Was Just an Accident

One rainy night in 1998, Philip Donaghy was paralysed in a car crash.

It was just an accident, a stroke of bad luck that shattered a young man's dreams and ambitions.

Against the odds, Philip left hospital and now lives in his own home with nursing care around the clock.

The car crash was not the only accident to blight Philip's youth.

His life was an accident from the moment of his conception in an institution for the mentally ill.

Philip was taken from his mother days after his birth and reared in a children's home in Belfast.

At the age of six, he was fostered by relatives and felt unloved by them.

When he was 11 he found out that he had no father. Philip has fought desperately with his family and the health authorities ever since to find out who his father is.

He has faced a conspiracy of silence and shame. More than the car crash, Philip's anguish over his identity as held him back from chieving his full potenti al.

Philip has dreams. Wen he finds out who he is, he wants to marry and to raise a family of his own.