The Star: May 04, 2017
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<strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong> Latest Christchurch news at www. .kiwi<br />
Thursday <strong>May</strong> 4 <strong>2017</strong> 5<br />
Woolston<br />
man dies<br />
from burns<br />
PUG BOAT. Four-year-old pug Nixon has serious spinal issues and lost the use of his legs. An underwater treadmill helps his<br />
recovery.<br />
PHOTOS: MARTIN HUNTER<br />
Water gets Nixon walking again<br />
• By Ashleigh Monk<br />
NIXON IS a remarkable wee<br />
dog.<br />
<strong>The</strong> four-year-old pug has<br />
had spinal issues for almost<br />
two years, and after surgery last<br />
month, Nixon lost all sensation<br />
in his back legs.<br />
Owners Josie and Dan<br />
Mathieson were “devastated”<br />
when he was given just a 50 per<br />
cent chance of walking again.<br />
But, Nixon has been dubbed<br />
the “Benjamin Button” of the<br />
dog world, after, for the first<br />
time in three weeks, he took his<br />
first steps and defied the medical<br />
odds.<br />
“No one really knows how<br />
Nixon is actually standing and<br />
walking right now,” said animal<br />
physiotherapy technician Oliver<br />
Gooday.<br />
He said Nixon couldn’t go<br />
to the toilet on his own, and<br />
needed monitoring to make sure<br />
he didn’t twist his spine.<br />
Mrs Mathieson said Nixon<br />
was “like her child” and she<br />
was devastated when he became<br />
paralysed.<br />
“It was really upsetting. I felt<br />
a bit responsible in a way,” she<br />
said.<br />
“But a few days after [the<br />
surgery] he started to get back<br />
to himself. I realised that even<br />
though he couldn’t walk, it<br />
didn’t seem to bother him too<br />
much.”<br />
Nixon went to physio about<br />
four times a week and even<br />
wore a pug-sized life jacket as he<br />
walked in the underwater treadmill<br />
to strengthen his legs.<br />
Nixon would continue to have<br />
treatment at the clinic, and Mr<br />
Gooday hoped the pug would be<br />
“bounding around in no time”.<br />
•Watch the video at<br />
www.star.kiwi<br />
• By Andrew King<br />
A MAN who suffered severe<br />
burns after an accidental garage<br />
fire in Woolston has died.<br />
<strong>The</strong> 50-year-old man was flown<br />
to Middlemore Hospital on April<br />
12 but succumbed to his injuries<br />
on April 26.<br />
Police said he had been living in<br />
the garage that caught fire.<br />
A neighbour, who did not want<br />
to be named, said there were<br />
about “10 explosions” before the<br />
smoke started billowing into the<br />
air.<br />
Fire crews extinguished the<br />
blaze and then police and fire<br />
investigators started to determine<br />
a cause.<br />
Detective Senior Sergeant Mark<br />
Worner said the cause of the fire<br />
was accidental.<br />
He said the man had been living<br />
in the garage, surrounded by<br />
his father’s possessions, who had<br />
recently died.<br />
After the fire the victim left the<br />
property and went to a nearby<br />
address on Hobson St where an<br />
ambulance was called and he<br />
was taken to hospital in a critical<br />
condition.
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