A young father and aspiring Olympian is facing a long road to recovery after a common household item almost paralysed him.

The 26-year-old, Cody Vitalone, tripped on a baby gate at the top of a set of stairs in his Tamworth home late on Thursday night, sending him crashing down headfirst.

Despite being in serious pain, Vitalone went straight back to bed only to wake up the next morning unable to move.

He was rushed to Tamworth Hospital before being flown to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle where scans discovered the fall had shattered both his C4 and C4 vertebrae in his neck.

Miraculously, Vitalone was just “millimetres” away from being paralysed and an emergency surgery to replace his C4 with a titanium brace has meant he can still walk.

While that is a stroke of good luck, the yo

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