Huel is always useful, even when I almost died!

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I’m a professional wildlife cameraman by trade.
I discovered Huel years ago whilst on a 3 month shoot in Egypt via another crew member who recommended it. Since then I’ve taken Huel on every shoot I’ve been on. It guarantees the ability to have a decent and well balanced meal, and all you need is access to drinkable water!

When it came out, I also gave hot and savoury a try and found that great too (especially the green Thai curry). That, I’ve generally reserved for use at home or for when I’ve been on shoots in locations where I knew in advance that I’d struggle to find vegan food.

However, 3 months ago I had a serious accident on a shoot. I fell off a mountain which, according to multiple doctors, should have killed me, but instead resulted in multiple breaks to my spine, my neck, my skull, the list goes on and on! After waking from my coma, getting repatriated to a hospital in the UK and eventually being moved home, I’m still not able to move or do anything for myself, and my amazing fiancee has been lumbered with the nurse roles (like injections), and meals etc, as well as her full time job currently working from home.

Our friends have been amazing during this time and some of them have even had freezer meals sent here which has been great! Not only have they been tasty, more importantly, it’s reduced the amount of cooking she’s had to do on top of everything else.

When they ran out, it was back to cooking, but realising I still had a couple of bags of Hot and Savoury in the cupboard, she’s been able to make that every few days. Not only is it as tasty as always, it’s proven to be a huge help to the both of us, in a serious situation! I look forward to sometime late next year when I can work again, ordering some of the fancy new mac n’ cheese!

So, with that in mind, that I’ve taken Huel everywhere, from the high Arctic, down to Antarctica, from rainforests to deserts, and now, even when trapped in my house in the UK unable to do anything, it’s still proving to be an invaluable product. I’d just like to say a massive thank you to Huel and their team for their base powder, the hot products and the bars!

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Wow, good luck in your recovery. Sounds like you have a great partner and friends.
Hopefully you will like the mac and cheeze as much as I do, just received a further 4 bags yesterday, can’t get enough of it.

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Thank you. I’ve been told to expect at least another year of all this so, taking it day by day, food is always a nice distraction!
I have a fantastic partner and brilliant friends, we are both extremely lucky!
Yeah I’ve only heard good things about the mac and cheese, fingers crossed!

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Good luck. Do you have a website where you show off your work, or is it all for tv etc?

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My work is all for TV (BBC/Netflix/Disney etc).
I do have a website here, but I’ve not updated it in quite a while, especially as it usually takes 2 years by the time I end working on something for it to come out (and therefor for me to be allowed to talk about it), so it’s always like a step back down memory lane!

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Wishing you a very speedy recovery. That was a shocking accident to have. Great you have good friends to keep you going and cheer you up. Take care :sunflower:

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Josh, website looks good, like the 2020 news reel. Looks like a very interesting, exciting worklife, apart from (I imagine) many hours of sitting around waiting for the right circumstances, oh and also falling off a mountain!

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Thanks, it’s going to be a long time, but I’m lucky to be surrounded by amazing people!

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Haha glad you liked it. Yeah I’m definitely lucky I’ve managed to have such a wonderful job, even if by the end of this it turns out I can’t go back to it, I’ll have gained some amazing experiences and memories.

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I remember your posts on the forum a while back…I’ve been here a while. This sounds horrific

Hope things get better for you.

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Wow! What an awful thing to happen to you. That’s really tough. Wishing you a full recovery

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Josh, I am so so sorry to hear about your horrific accident. A coma? I don’t know what to say, this must be one the most difficult thing you’ve ever gone through. Your fiancé sounds incredible, what a rock to have by your bedside.

I’m going to drop you a DM and make sure we get you out some Mac & Cheeze etc, thank you for taking the time to send us this message and tell us about this experience. I hope your recovery is quick and you can get back out filming adventures and nature as soon as physically possible, your work is incredible.

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Hi Hunzas, yeah I’ve been on here a while myself too.

Thanks! I hope you’re well

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Thanks Bee, fingers crossed!

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Hi Tim.

Thanks for your kind message. Yeah, it was only a week long coma straight after the incident, but was good at the very least, for helping my brain heal before consciously using it.

It’s by far the biggest challenge I’ve personally faced and throws up a lot of question marks for the future, but I’m incredibly lucky, both to still be alive, and to have so many wonderful friends and family around me.

Oh wow, I’ll check my messages, thank you! No worry about the message, the only thing I can do at the moment is use my phone, or for brief periods, a laptop, so using forums and messengers is my only way to access the world, haha.

Recovery will unfortunately be slow, but at the very least, whilst healing will take a long time, my physiotherapy is progressing which is good.

Fingers crossed for being able to return to filming the world one day!

Thanks again!

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You have a great attitude, I can’t imagine having a coma for any length of time and describing it as “only”. That kind of outlook will help your recovery so much, it really does make a difference. It’s such a life shifting event for you, and I’m so glad you have the support of friends and family, and an evidently amazing fiancé. I hope you’re writing a diary at the moment. Imagine looking back on this in a years time and seeing how far you’ve come with recovery.

Wishing you all the best, and hope you can get back to photography soon, you must be missing it. Take care of your mental health too, your mind and body must be going through a lot.

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Haha, thank you. To be honest, I’m lucky that I have no memory of my day of the incident, so as far as my memory is concerned, I went to sleep on the shoot, and woke up in hospital 8 days later. All this damage kind of feels like it has just come out of nowhere, though I obviously know that’s not the case. I guess it just feels there’s so many things for me to try and focus on right now, things in the past that I can’t even remember aren’t worth worrying over.

The situation I’m in is the situation I’m in, worrying and complaining about it won’t make it, or the general mood, any better. It’s better to just take it one day at a time and try and make the most of what I can. Obviously things aren’t easy, and some days they are even harder, but having amazing family and friends really helps during those times!

Yeah I hope I can get back to my camerawork, I’ve spent my life working on it and it would be a shame not to be able to focus on that anymore. However, even if it comes to that, there are other directions I can try and move in and remain in the wildlife/science filmmaking industry so there are still options!

Thanks and I hope you’re doing well too!

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Hi what a story you have. I was also in a coma for a week in 2018. There’s nothing weirder than being in one place then waking up in another a week later is there?!

I’m not sure where you are up to in your recovery but this is to let you know it does get better. I’m not quite where I was Pre coma even now but I will get there.

More power to your elbow sir. I wish you all the very best x

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100% of people in this thread who have been in a coma: use Huel. Huel causes comas confirmed.

But seriously what a unique experience you both share! I work on a rehab ward and we occasionally get patients who have been in comas. It’s incredible seeing what the mind and body can recover from, and really inspiring too. Recovery can be ongoing and hard work, but the benefits are worth every moment.

So happy to hear this! It’s good to have a long term goal but it’s equally important to take things step by step and just see what you can do in the moment. Sometimes our lives change around us and we just have to adapt to it. Keep us updated on everything!

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Yeah the void in my memory is definitely a strange one to deal with. To be honest. I’ve not thought much about that week as I’ve had more pressing to focus on since regaining consciousness. But yeah, it’s really odd that the biggest thing to happen directly to me in my life isn’t even in my memory.

I’m sorry to hear you’re still recovering but I’m really glad to hear you’ve improved since your coma!

Thank you so much for getting in touch, whilst there isn’t much I can do for a while other than message, do let me know if there’s anything I can do to help!

Wishing you all the best too!

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