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A Second Chance to Live and Becoming a Personal Trainer

Reading Time: 2 minutes 31 seconds

BY: Dean Spiros

DATE: 2017-11-24


Given a second chance to live a productive life, David Byrnes found God. He also found the gym.

Critically injured seven years ago in an automobile accident that he caused while driving intoxicated, the 39-year-old Byrnes, left with slurred speech, a pronounced limp and limited use of his right hand, says he is a changed man.

He feels it in his heart, and he sees it when he looks in the mirror. With his own spirit and body on the mend, Byrnes is setting out to try to help others. The Raleigh, N.C., resident became an ISSA certified personal trainer in June.

The accident occurred in October of 2010. Byrnes ran a stop sign, and his car was t-boned on the passenger side. He was on his way to pick up his daughter.

"Thank God she wasn't in the car," Byrnes said. "If she was, she wouldn't have made it."

Byrnes' injuries included four broken vertebrae, and there as serious doubt that he would survive. With death looming, his mother signed a release form that authorized his organs to be donated when he passed.

He remained in a coma for three months. His recovery included nearly a year in the hospital, much of it spent with the inability to walk or talk. Once 230 pounds, Byrnes was down to a frail 160.

When he went to trial for causing the accident (no one else was injured) he was wheelchair-bound and unable to speak. He also was on medication to control seizures.

"I was facing four charges from the wreck," Byrnes said, "but they were all dropped due to my condition."

Byrnes, who said he read the Bible while in the courtroom, said he avoided jail time due to God's hand. From that point on, he knew he had to take control of his life.

The apartment complex where Byrnes was living had a gym, and because his injuries prevented him from being able to work, he decided that working out would be his job.

"I wanted to use my time wisely," he said. "It was either that or sit around and watch Jerry Springer."

Byrnes said he works out for two hours a day, seven days a week. His routine includes an hour workout in the morning, a break for lunch and another hour workout in the afternoon. His weight is back up to 230 pounds, but it's a different 230.

"I used to have a lot more body fat," Byrnes said. "Now it's muscle. I can take my shirt off now."

He got to know a personal trainer who was working at the gym, and it was from that relationship that he got the idea of becoming a personal trainer.

Along with his limp and slurred speech, Byrnes has problems with equilibrium, but he says none of it prevents him from being an effective personal trainer.

"I can't do any other job, but I can do this one," he said. "I've taken the time to educate myself about the body. I know what I'm doing."

Byrnes is originally from Fresno, Calif. His family moved to North Carolina when he was 14. He spent his 20s working as a commercial fisherman in Alaska. He said he made a lot of money; not that it showed in his bank account.

"I was young and dumb," he said. I spent it all."

Not much changed when he returned to North Carolina. Until the accident.

"I lived my life so wrong," Byrnes said. "And to think that I have a second chance, that God gave me a second chance to breathe, it's up to me to be the best person I can be. So I live my life in a positive way, and I'm just so thankful to be here."

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