Blesma Member who lost his leg in a lorry crash helps to grow Essex Dog Day Care Centre

Today, having battled depression and learned how live a new life, the former Gulf War veteran and his wife Clare have a new purpose - turning the rapidly growing Ipswich Dog Day Care Creche into a major success.

At about 5am on June 10th 2005, with the Felixstowe couple preparing to get married, a simple journey down the A14 left Danny fighting for his life and needing all his military training to survive.

After a collision with another lorry, his vehicle had turned over when two brave members of the public pulled him from the cab of the lorry as it caught fire.

"It was his army training that made him survive that day,” said Mrs Holmes “Anyone in a vehicle on fire would panic - he never panicked but thankfully these two gentlemen pulled him out." 

Heavily burned in the crash, Mr Holmes spent three to four weeks in a coma at Ipswich Hospital before being transferred to the burns unit at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford. He later had his right leg amputated above the knee.

Mr Holmes said: "Whilst I was in hospital, I felt angry and annoyed.

"My life was going to change completely. I thought: 'How do people cope with losing a limb?'

"The way you look at life, it changes. The first couple of years were hard, because it was a different way of life. Even now I get frustrated with things I used to be able to do, like going up stepladders."

Some days, the frustration and depression felt like it had become too much - but Mr and Mrs Holmes, who eventually married in New Zealand in 2007, got through it together.

"It was me kicking him, saying: 'You're still here, we'll survive it as a couple,'" Mrs Holmes said.

Having been made redundant a few years ago, Mrs Holmes said: "I wanted to do something a bit more fulfilling."

The move into setting up her own dog day care business - first as part of the Canine Creche franchise in 2018, and then as an independent company a year later - was a "huge financial decision" for the couple.

However Mr Holmes, who originally retrained as a care worker, backed his wife 100% - saying: "It's time you did something for you."

From October last year, with Mrs Holmes increasingly busy due to the business' popularity, Mr Holmes joined part-time to assist his wife.

And today he says: "It's given me another look at life, working with animals. It's so rewarding.

"I'm now trying to give back to the people who looked after me."

Ipswich Dog Day Care Creche has even been named as a finalist for the Start Up Business of The Year category at the FSB Small Business Awards, which is being held in May.

"The service we provide here is something you can't get online," said Mrs Holmes. "It's a service people need.

"Because it's something we do as a husband and wife unit, we share the ups and we share the downs.

"It gives him a real purpose and we're both super proud."

You can learn more about the Ipswich Dog Day Care Creche here.