From Near-Fatal Crash to The Traitors Finalist: A Story of Resilience

This week, Andrew Jenkins, known to many as a finalist from The Traitors UK Season Two, joined the Beyond the Boardroom podcast with Aleksandra King to share a deeply personal and powerful story of survival, physical comeback, and mental health awakening. He discusses the near-fatal car crash that changed his life and the decades-long journey he took to overcome the resulting physical and mental trauma.

Declared Dead at 21: The Near-Fatal Car Crash

At just 21, Andrew's life was tragically altered by a devastating car crash in which he was the driver with four passengers. The vehicle hit a curb, flipped, and landed on him. When emergency services arrived, they told the people in the car that Andrew was "dead". Shockingly, Andrew lost six pounds of blood and required two roadside transfusions.

He sustained severe head injuries, including a "big hole" in his skull where bone was exposed to his brain from being dragged on the floor. This resulted in Andrew spending four weeks in a coma in intensive care. His family was called to the hospital on three occasions because doctors believed he would not make it. Later, doctors warned of severe brain damage and that he would likely never talk, move, or walk again.

Defying the Doctors: The Physical Comeback

Despite the bleak prognosis, Andrew's innate competitive drive, honed by his rugby background, allowed him to persevere. When doctors said he would never walk, his immediate response was, "I guarantee I walk in this hospital". After two months of lying on his back, he had no feeling in his legs. He had to physically re-learn how to walk with a physiotherapist, picking one foot up in front of the other for days. Andrew firmly believes in the power of the mind, stating, "I think everybody's got strength inside them… they don't know they go, so they need to use it". Initially, he focused on achieving small goals, like taking a few extra steps each day, which eventually led to him walking again.

The Mental Health Journey: Trauma and Grief

The physical recovery was followed by a decades-long struggle with mental health. Andrew admitted he let his trauma "define me for probably 24 years". After the accident, he refused counselling and therapy for 15 years, feeling that professionals who "studied a textbook" would not understand his experience. Upon finally seeing a counsellor 15 years later, he was diagnosed not with PTSD or depression, but with grief—grieving the loss of his old identity, his ability to play rugby, and the "old Andrew". Therapy lead him to realising that the "toxic masculinity" environment he grew up in led him to believe showing feelings made him weak and today, he advocates that being vulnerable is actually "bravery" and "strength". 

Key Lessons Learned from Trauma

Andrew shared profound lessons from his difficult journey, which now form the basis of his motivational speaking career.

• Talk and Open Up: Don't bottle up feelings for years; talk to someone—a friend, colleague, or family member. This one simple action can be the difference between life and death for someone
• Lean into Emotions: Suppressing emotions like anger or upset makes them stronger. Instead of pushing them down, "lean into it and deal with it" to find the root cause, often connected to childhood trauma
• Reframing Grief: Grief is the emotional reaction to any kind of loss, not just death. After losing his mother, Andrew chose to focus on the "47 good years" they shared, rather than only the pain of the loss
• Embrace Authenticity: The search for happiness in material things often fails because people live to "everybody else's expectations". Taking off the "mask" to be your true, authentic self is scary but leads to fulfilment.

Andrew's Journey is one of inspiration and an example of hoe resilience in the face of adversity is what truly breeds success. Intrigued? The full episode as well as so many amazing others is available now on the Aleksandra King YouTube Channel.