In May last year I had a car accident and broke my back, requiring major spinal surgery in Sept. Of course it was a real drama and I nearly died and I count myself very lucky to still be alive and walking! So a long story of recovery, change of life and career etc. etc. I now have five vertbrae fused with Titanium rods, screws and ties which places a huge strain on my lower vertebrae causing me to be restrictged to 20hrs a week of work at a sedentary job. I run my own business now from home.

Having Osteoporosis doesn't help and recently I tripped over a trailer and fractured my L4 vertebrae so in the last 16mths have broken my back twice! I also now have a nice z-shaped scar on my forehead and had to replace my specs...

My wife and family are threatening to duct tape me to bed and not allow me out of the house! Or wrap me in bubble-wrap, or something!

I would like to say, that we in NZ are blessed with an incredible emergency and public health system that should be the envy of many countries, despite the problems we have with it. ACC have been fantastic and I shudder to think what I have cost them in the last 16mths! I certainly wouldn't have been anywhere near as well cared for without their resources! My surgeon is one of the best there is and did an amazing job under difficult circumstances and I have his skills to thank for the fact that I can stand up! I was treated like royalty in hospital and my respect for our nurses, while always very high, is now even higher! They are truly amazingly dedicated and caring people doing a job that would stump most!

I live with pain constantly and cannot remember what it's like to be pain-free anymore. I cherish my family and friends who have stuck by me and supported me through it all and of course my poor long-suffering wife who pleads with me to just give her one year without trying to kill myself. I've nearly died five times in our 34 years of marrieage...

If you have suffered severe trauma and are living with the consequences of similar kind, I have sympathy for you and can only encourage to keep going, adjust and be patient with yourself.

Wow Edbear! You've certainly been through the mill. Now if you were a cat you'd still have a few lives left so you could mention that to your dearly beloved. All the very best to you. There's obviously a reason why you're still here.

Running out though... LOL! I think the reason I'm still here is one of several. You can't kill weeds, Only the good die young, Too stubborn to die or sheer luck! I'm blessed with an incredible family, my three children and two sons-in-law, one grandson and another on the way and my beautiful, darling wife who has stuck by me and makes me feel the luckiest guy in the world.

A very sad story but with a 95% happy ending. The last % constantly being in pain for you..

The lovely positve post you did ,,,shows what the love and caring of a gr8 wife and family along with gr8 Health profesionals all added together keep one on the up and up.

Well done to you and all your loving family etc..

I think one of the regular posters on the current affairs thread broke his back years ago in an accident,,, and is now up and running as well against all the odds.

Think the story was on here couple of years ago..

Such an uplifting post,,, and you all there in Orewa ( beautiful part of the NTh) hope all goes well for the future,,,and come back soon please and share some of your thoughts.


Awesome..


Cheers Kai

Thanks Kai, My family is my life and my wife is still my childhood sweetheart I married way back in 1977. I could have died several times, but my love for my family and the love and fear I saw/see on their faces at these times, made me very determined to survive.

I really can't speak highly enough of teh fantastic care I receiveed from the time I crashed my van, from the intial witnesses who stopped and comforted me to the fire service and ambulance staff who cut the van up to get me out and into the ambulance, to the emergency room and subsequent hospital care. To the Police SCU who investigated and cleared both myself and the van of any fault, (oil on the road that I couldn't see in the rain), to the care and amazing support of my ACC case manager! I was spoiled rotten, for sure!

Orewa is the closest place to paradise on earth, and I think we'll remain here and retire here. There are so many lovely places in NZ to live, you can pretty much throw a dart at a map and be happy. But Orewa is so incredibly convenient as well as beautiful!