SNN_July 2021 Issue_web low res

NEW ZEALAND SPINAL TRUST 12
Andrew wants to make a difference for New Zealanders living with a disability.
Soon after Andrew was surrounded by paramedics and he
heard a helicopter overhead.
“I knew what it meant when they told me I was going
straight to Christchurch, something was seriously wrong
with my spine,” he says.
The Life Flight Trust helicopter landed in Hagley Park,
and Andrew was taken straight into hospital for scans and
then surgery. It is all one big blur.
Andrew was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU)
and was fighting for his life.
“When I woke up, three weeks later, the world had
changed,” he says.
The long road to recovery
Andrew had injured his neck between the C4 and C5
vertebrae. A disc shot forward and crushed his spinal
cord. There were also fractures and snapped ligaments.
They removed the disc, took a bone graft from his hip, put
that in between the vertebrae, bolted it together with a
metal plate and left it to stitch together.
Andrew was told he was now tetraplegic.
“That term is quite scary,” he says. “My family was hearing
that term, and what they were seeing was scary too. I was
lying in an induced coma with tubes coming out of my
mouth and nose. They were being prepared by doctors
that I’d likely be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life.”
It was a fate that he never accepted.
From the outside Andrew looked completely asleep, but
he was far from it. “My brain was going crazy with
dreams, hallucinations and visions,” he says. “Talk of
this crazy new pandemic world was coming through into
my dreams.”
In the second week Andrew started to wake up and wanted
to tick off his first milestone of breathing by himself.
“I set the goal to walk out of this place”
In Andrew’s post ICU assessment, the doctor noticed a
flicker of movement starting to happen in his legs.
“I allowed myself to think, ‘maybe I’ll walk again’. And off
I went to Burwood Hospital to start my rehab.”
Andrew says the awakening of his muscles was “hugely
positive” and the days were filling up as rehab started.
“But there were dark times too. I didn’t sleep much, and
my mind started to wander to; ‘What’s going to become of
me … what if … why didn’t I take that bail out rather than
turning right?’ I was frustrated with the feeding tube in
my nose, necessary due to the damage done to my throat
during the operation,” he says.
Andrew is a visualiser. He set to work visualising a
particular muscle engaging, over and over for hours.
He reached milestones like scratching his head and
brushing his teeth and set bigger goals.
“I wanted to walk out of this place, and I wanted to walk
well—well enough to walk in the bush. I wanted to play
chords on the guitar and play the piano again,” he says.
Andrew achieved his goal of walking out of Burwood
Hospital which was an emotional moment.
“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, to learn to walk
again. I’m immensely proud of that.”
“Incredible recovery beyond expectations”
Andrew’s ACC Recovery Partner Sharon Smith says
Andrew, ever since he regained consciousness, has been
totally committed to his recovery.