Chris Cavaliere, 36, from Huyton, was hit by a car in 2017 and suffered life-long injuries. He now campaigns to bring the STS Young Endeavour tall ship to Liverpool.
After nearly losing his life in 2017, Chris Cavaliere's prospects looked bleak having sustained life-long injuries. However, determined not to give up, just a few years ago he discovered tall ships and began volunteering for a local charity. Now, he is trying to give people like him the opportunity to fall in love with tall ships and is campaigning to bring back one of England's tall ships years after it was given to Australia.
Hit at traffic lights
Looking back to the moments leading up to the incident which changed his life in 2017, Chris told the ECHO: "I'd just been helping my uncle renovate his house, I'd been to get some shopping because their house was up the wall, so I was going to cook them a nice tea. After I came out of the shop, I was just at a set of traffic lights and that's when I was hit."
After surviving the accident, Chris explained that he had no memory of the minutes and hours that followed. While the effects of his injuries have improved in the years since, he now has a catheter after his stomach was crushed, he has damage behind his right eye which has caused partial sight loss and he has a minor brain injury which can sometimes affect his speech.
From dark place to tall ships
As the weeks and months passed Chris descended into "a very, very dark place" and felt like he had "no purpose in life whatsoever". However, that suddenly all began to change. After being told about Seas Your Future, a charity that provided educational, developmental and therapeutic sail training voyages, predominantly for young people, Chris decided to give it a try.
He said: "After my accident, once I started to get myself back to a position that mentally, physically, I was a lot stronger, I took a chance and I went onto a tall ship, and it just absolutely changed my life. It just changed my whole perception."
He added: "It just changes everything, because all your troubles just go away, and you have to focus on just helping other people and basically getting back to basics. It's a healing experience, when you see dolphins breaking on the bow or a clear sky at night, seeing the stars, it's empowering, it really is."
Campaign to bring STS Young Endeavour to Liverpool
At the moment, the UK is facing a significant lack of Class A tall ships, which, due to their huge size, large crews, stability and structure, are highly desirable for teaching people who have never been on a ship before. In light of this, Chris is heading up a campaign to try and bring one of the most famous tall ships to Liverpool.
Under their not-for-profit organisation, Endeavour Sail Training, Chris and the team are aiming to bring back the STS Young Endeavour to UK shores permanently and dock it in Liverpool. Built in England in 1987, the STS Young Endeavour was given as a gift by the UK to Australia in 1988 to mark its Bicentenary. Run by the Royal Australian Navy, it has provided sail training to young people and disabled people for decades.
However, it has recently been retired and is set to be replaced by the STS Young Endeavour II. Endeavour Sail Training's efforts to bring the STS Young Endeavour to Liverpool have already received encouragement after positive talks with Peel Ports, Bibby Marine and Sea Scope.
Chris said: "We've got this opportunity to bring this fantastic tall ship that, if we don't save her, she's going to be lost."
As he pushes forward with plans to bring the tall ship to Liverpool, he looked back at just how far he has come over the years. He said: "At one point I was in a very, very dark place multiple times, and now I can actually see the light. And I just hope to be able to empower young individuals, if they are going through a dark time, that you can make a difference."
He added: "All I want to do is help people be inspired and do what it's done for me, because I've seen firsthand, from whether it's young people to veterans, what that can do. And one of the best things that's happened is I've managed to assemble a team that want to do the same and have got the exact same passion as me. Hopefully I can bring it to my home town of Liverpool."
