My 2nd Chance At Life

My name is Dave Murphy and I live in Calgary, Alberta however I grew up in many small towns in Newfoundland.  In 1994 I received a second chance at life and this is my story and how I’m making the most of it. 

I was raised in a very loving family by two amazing parents who were Salvation Army officers, along with my brother and sister we were fortunate to be around giving our entire lives.  We did however move every 2-4 years as they were stationed in different cities all across the province.  In 1992 my father received the call that he was being transferred to Ottawa and this city was were my life changed forever.

In April 1994 I was outside of Bayshore Shopping Mall and got in to a heated argument with three guys (It’s been so long I don’t remember the cause or what started it) I remember one of the guys coming at me to punch me so I attempted to defend myself.  I remember the three of them swarming around me and then after about twenty seconds they all took off.  I started to walk away then I put my hand on my leg and looked at it.  The site of my hand covered in blood I fell to the ground in the mall parking lot.  I had been stabbed twice on my leg and nine times on my back.  I had a punctured lung and one knife wound I was told after missed my heart by ONE inch.  I remember a older lady holding my hand and she kept holding my hand in the ambulance right to the hospital. 

My muscle in my left leg was severely torn and major surgery was required, also to fix my lung that had been punctured.   When I woke up from surgery I asked where the lady was that was in the ambulance and no one had any clue what I was talking about.  You can think about that whatever you like I however feel it was someone looking out for me.

For almost four months I was laid up on a couch and had to learn how to walk all over again, because of this I put on a lot of weight which I never recovered from.  I had multiple doctors tell me I’d always have problems walking for the rest of my life.  For a lot of years I let that be my excuse to be lazy and continued to put on weight. After I recovered from the accident I wanted to pay it back so I would bring cans of Timmies coffee to fire halls and police stations whenever I would get the chance.  It was my small way of saying thank you.

Fast forward to 2007 and a very close friend of mine was serving with the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan and he was so excited because they were opening a Tim Hortons on the base for them.  I asked him if they had to pay for it and he said yes.  My reply was “Not Anymore”

I started a small Facebook group called Tim Hortons For Our Troops and asked people to send the paper certificates with a message of the thanks on the back of them.  Within a few days it had about 3000 members and was spreading like wildfire.  VOCM News in Newfoundland did a story on it and that’s when things went crazy.  I contacted the MFRC in Toronto and they gave out their address as a place where people could send them and they would have them delivered.   CITY NEWS in Toronto then picked this story up and within the first year we had sent over $100,000 in free coffee to soldiers with messages of support on the back of them.

I started to receive a lot of messages asking for Pen Pals from civilians which I gladly set people up with, this turned in to a new mission of it’s own and within a few months I had setup over 2000 people including ten elementary schools as pen pals with soldiers overseas.  We also introduced military families together, fellow soldiers with each other and most importantly families of fallen soldiers were meeting each other through this page to help each other grieve. 

In 2010 I decided to start “The Gratitude Project” which encouraged people to send a photo holding a Thank You sign and I would put them together in a YouTube video and do my best that our troops would see them.  Well we received enough photos to make ten YouTube videos from people from every corner of the world.  The biggest shock was opening my email inbox and seeing a photo from Gene Simmons and Shannon Tweed.

In 2013 after the severe floods in Calgary and High River, Alberta I asked people to come together to bring coffee to first responders in the area and the response was amazing.   In one day we delivered over $5000 worth of coffee to every fire hall in Calgary and High River.  We also had a property management company send $1000 in Tim Hortons cards which we decided to give out to people that had been forced to leave their homes to try and brighten their day a little.

When we visited some of the emergency centers in High River the fire fighters and RCMP officers politely turned it down and told us to bring the coffee outside to residents in the RV's in the parking lot as they could use the lift more than they could, I can't say I was shocked by this at all.

Since my incident in 1994 I have always tried to pay it back to those that saved my life that night and I felt pretty good about accomplishing that up to this point but this was just the beginning.  In 2018 I was at a park with our five year old daughter who was four at the time.   She wanted to race me home from the playground but I said "I’m sorry sweetie daddy can’t run” the look of disappointment in her face I will never forget as long as I live.  I met my beautiful wife in 2012 and in 2014 we were blessed with the birth of a beautiful daughter.  This was my reason I was spared that night in Ottawa to become a father and a husband.  These two are the greatest thing that ever happened to me and my number one reason for starting my weigh loss journey.  I want to be around when my daughter graduates and gets married way way way down the road.   They are my reason

I decided this was enough and promised myself I would lose 100lbs in 2019 one way or another.  I needed something to keep me motivated so I pledged online that I would donate $1 per pound that I lose in the year to Vets Canada.  A group I have worked very closely with over the years that gets homeless Veterans off the streets and assists Veterans that are struggling.   On November of 2019 I hit my 100 pound lost goal and several others matched my $100 donation.  In total we were able to raise $750.00 for this organization.    I wanted to keep going so I pledged that I would lose another 50lbs by the end of 2020 and donate the money to Canpraxis.  They’re a horse therapy program that assists Veterans and First Responders with PTSD with the use of horses.  This is were things changed.

Seven weeks ago I was on a CALGARY ROAST AND TOAST page and I posted a thank you to two guys who were making fun of me the first time I tried a gym about a year before.  I was on a exercise bike and two guys behind me on the treadmill I could hear them referring to the back of my neck as a package of sausages and laughing very loudly.  Those guys lit a fire under me although it messed me up for awhile it eventually was used as motivation.

I was contacted by the owners at Southpaw Boxing Gym in Calgary who saw my story and offered me a year membership and training to hit my goals.   Boxing has changed my life, after struggling with PTSD for 16 years from my incident this place has been a Godsend.  They are truly a family there and right from the owners to the trainers and all the members I have never had so much support in my life.

The owners told me about their “Chump To Champ” program and instantly I thought this could be my final way to pay it back to the first responders who saved my life.   I decided to join and will be having my first fight in April.  I started a Go Fund me page and will be splitting 100% of the donations between my two favourite charities Vets Canada and Canpraxis.  It was a fight that originally got me in to this situation and it will be a fight that will close the door on it for me.

With this fight I have access to a VIP table up front for people to support me, my plan is to have Steve Gillis from Vets Canada, Steve C the founder of Canpraxis, one fire fighter, one police officer,  my wife, and three Veterans at this table.  I am hoping to find a Calgary business that might want to sponsor the table to make this happen.  If you know anyone please contact me at murphyd@gmail.com

Five days ago I received a very special gift from someone I have respected and admired since 2007. Kevin is a retired firefighter from Ontario and he was a part of the Hero To Hero program that used to send fire fighter t-shirts to coalition forces overseas. It would bring them a little piece of home while they were away. Kevin had sent me a red Sarnia Fire Rescue short over ten years ago that had gotten lost and somewhere in my moves here in Calgary. Today I opened up a package from Kevin with several fire fighter shirts and this one I looked at last. I flooded up as it was a 911 firefighter tribute shirt that had sent by the mother of a fire fighter that died in 911. Robert Foti died in the south tower and his mom sent it to Kevin. Kevin wore the shirt when he did a stair climb in honour of 911 an he climbed 78 flights of stairs ( the highest any fire fighter reached on 911 before the towers collapsed) he was wearing all his bunker gear including S.C.B.A

He sent me a message that said

"I hope this shirt inspired you in all that you are doing"


I will be proudly wearing this to the ring for my fight in April

When my Go Fund Me page has completed I will be making the donations and sending tax receipts via the two charities to anyone that sponsors me in this fight.  I have always kept things 100% visible through my efforts and this will be no different.  

To the EMS and fire fighters who were on the scene 1994 thank you, to the doctors who worked on me in the emergency room thank you, to the Ottawa and Nepean police officers who worked on my case and eventually found the guys responsible for what happened to me thank you.

If you were inspired reading this feel free to share.

Thank You

Click here to sponsor me : Go Fund Me Page