In 1991 he was badly injured when hit by a car outside Sydney's Warwick Farm racecourse, which resulted in horrific injuries and sustained Acquired Brain Injury and a stroke. In December 1993 John commenced a new complex brain-based multi-movement therapy rehabilitation program that resulted in John returning to a near normal life some 10–12 weeks after the therapy began. John's recovery became the basis of a cognitive neuroscience PhD thesis at Central Queensland University (by Ragnar Purje under the supervision of Professor Ken Purnell) titled: The phenomenon of the recovery of Johnny Famechon: A discourse of resilience and brain plasticity.