Northampton man who suffered serious brain injury hoping for new lease of life with DJ career

A Northampton DJ is determined to work again after a car accident left him with a brain injury.

Anatoli Turcanu was walking home from work at around 5pm in September 2024 when he was hit by a car on Boughton Lane in Moulton. The road had been closed to traffic due to flooding, but the car hit him at 34mph in a 30mph zone, sending Anatoli flying ten metres through the air.

He was rushed to hospital with extensive fractures to his arms and legs, and was later transferred to a rehabilitation unit where he received specialist support for his brain injury.

Anatoli’s primary aim was to resume his job at a food packaging company in Moulton Park, and seven months after the crash he returned to work.

But due to PTSD and extreme fatigue caused by his brain injury, Anatoli was forced to leave his role as a general assistant, despite many attempts to revise his working patterns and find alternative positions since he returned. He says he is ‘devastated’ to give up the job he loved.

Anatoli said: “Before I was injured I would work so many hours, I’d always want to do overtime and really enjoyed my job. I wanted to get back to work straight away and couldn’t understand why I couldn’t work like I did before – it was really frustrating and I did struggle.

“I was encouraged not to rush - but once I went back to work, even for four hours a day with breaks each hour, it was still too much. I didn’t want any help, and I wanted to do it on my own. I became angry as I was trying to work in the same way and it was not working

“It was a dark time. I didn’t understand my condition so didn’t know why I couldn’t get back to normal.”

Anatoli, who has since moved to Corby, spoke to lawyers Slater and Gordon and received support from the serious injury team. He then began seeing specialist therapists, with medics saying his recovery is ‘remarkable’.

Now, Anatoli is looking to turn DJing, a hobby he previously loved, into a career which works around his injury.

He said: “I had a multi-disciplinary team of experts who helped me with my recovery and I now feel in a place where I would like to try and move forward in my life.

“At first when I returned to my job, I was really motivated but lost that because I wasn’t ready to return and couldn’t do it. Now, I have come to understand my injury and why fatigue affects me so much, which means I can look to the future with much more confidence. I am trying to live a new life. 

“I really want to be able to work. My rehabilitation has helped me both physically and psychologically, and I now understand that it’s not possible just to pick up your life after such a serious brain injury.

"Before my injury, I used to DJ as my hobby, but now I want to do that as my job. Life will be different but can still be positive.”