Jason Cadee has learnt to appreciate the small things in life.

Like getting out of a chair on his own.  Hopping from one room to another or simply being able to breathe in fresh air.

That’s what happens after a serious car accident. It turns your life upside down.

All of a sudden getting in and out of bed on your own is a big deal.

The 19-year-old basketball sensation, who has signed with the Gold Coast Blaze, has been home a week after a horrific car accident left him with a broken pelvis. 

Although still on crutches there has been an improvement.

“You do something and you’re like ‘oh I just did that’,” he said.

“I’m moving around easier and slowly getting off the heavier drugs I was on.”

Cadee, who Boomers coach Brett Bowen believes is a certainty for the London Olympics, is a crucial part of the Blaze’s plans. 

So much so coach Joey Wright and team manager Joe Tertzakian travelled to his family home in the western suburbs of Sydney last week to reassure Cadee he is a key figure, regardless of how long he is sidelined.

Doctors believed it will be six months before Cadee can make his highly anticipated NBL debut but Wright knows Cadee’s long-term value far outweighs short-term pain.

On the day of the Blaze visit, Cadee could not get out of a chair by himself.  Now he is getting himself around the house. 

“I can move around by myself now on crutches without having to ask someone to help, so I’m much freer,” said Cadee.

“I definitely feel ahead of where I should be.”

Cadee says the past fortnight has been a life-changing experience.

A month ago he was sinking three-pointers with the Boomers and preparing to move to the Gold Coast.

Two weeks ago he was trapped in his mangled car after it was hit by a semi-trailer.

“I was in the Boomers mix and doing a good job there, I was moving up to the Gold Coast to get stuff going with the Blaze,” said Cadee.  “I was just starting to get things going, there’s no good timing really.”

Cadee is missing basketball ‘like anything’ but he believes the full magnitude is yet to hit him.

“It will hit me soon, it’s only been a week at home,” he said.

“It’s been two and a bit weeks since the accident. In the next few weeks when I can get out and see a game, that’s when it’s going to eat me up a little bit.”

“Playing Xbox is not the same.”

Cadee’s longest stint away from basketball was three months.

“When I did my ankle I went three months without playing, that was tough,” he said.

“But being an ankle, when you get off your crutches you can still walk in a boot and do things, so this will be interesting.”

It will be a long road back but Cadee says it will be worth it.

Short term he’ll be content with getting out of the lounge room.

“I’m looking forward to getting out of the house,” he said.

“I can’t just meet mates anywhere or just go for a walk, it’s a life-changing experience.”