Samuel Koch
His accident seems like "a kind of second birthday" to him
Samuel Koch has made a name for himself as an actor and book author
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Ten years ago, Samuel Koch's life changed suddenly. Today he sees the "Wetten, dass ..?" Accident as a "second birthday".
December 4, 2020 will mark the anniversary of the fateful accident of Samuel Koch (33) as a candidate for "Wetten, dass ..?" for the tenth time. Even if the paraplegia he suffered from the fall reminds him of the accident day after day, he works hard not to be known forever as the man "who was in 'Wetten, dass ..?' fell on the face ", as Koch put it in an interview with" Bild am Sonntag ".
He has done a lot in recent years to ensure that his face is not exclusively associated with "the caustic wheelchair". He made a name for himself as a theater, TV and cinema actor, wrote three books ("StehaufMensch !: What makes us strong?") And found the love of his life in the person of actress Sarah Elena Timpe (35). The couple has been married since 2016.
But Koch doesn't believe that the two only got to know and love each other because of his accident and is instead certain that fate would have brought them together sooner or later: "After my acting studies, we would have had a cheesy blockbuster saved our lives in a chase, or we would have died together by chance on a small suburban theater stage. "
His father also suffers
Koch can now look back on the disaster of December 4, 2010 with the same optimism. "Since I could have been dead after breaking my neck four times, my survival can also be seen as a kind of second birthday. Hundreds of thousands of other people are not granted such a birthday," said Koch.
And the stroke of fate also connected him to his father "in a special way (…)". It was his father who drove the car at the time, wanted to do a somersault over the cook and fell unhappy on his head. A circumstance that must have traumatized his father at least as much as himself – if not even more: "When I, as a big brother and often proud uncle, try to put myself in the shoes of a father's love, then papa will certainly suffer from the accident sometimes more than I did. "