SNN_July 2021 Issue_web low res

SPINAL NETWORK NEWS 25
consumed by all. It was just a stupid moment where I made
a poor decision and it had big consequences,” he says.
“Everyone sobered up pretty quickly that’s for sure.”
The long road to recovery
Andrew knows he was lucky to survive.
He was picked up by an ambulance and taken to
Queenstown Hospital. He spent a day there before being
flown to Christchurch Hospital where he was transferred
to the Burwood Spinal Unit.
It was a different world in those days. At Burwood he
spent the next seven weeks in traction. Andrew had
sustained a crush fracture of his C6 vertebrae. At the time
it was incomplete ASIA B. A few years later he was
reclassified as ASIA C.
“I was lying flat on my back for seven weeks in traction
with weights dangling off my head while the bone injury
healed as there wasn’t any surgical fixation in those
days,” he says. “It was a tough time.”
After that the rehab began. He says it was overwhelming
to have his life change in a moment.
“We were all so excited to make the team and be heading
to Bulgaria and I was even more excited about the
upcoming job with the Coronet Peak ski patrol,” he says.
“That was a dream of mine. I was probably more upset
about the loss of that job opportunity than anything
else really.”
He said the thing he remembers most about his
rehabilitation at the Burwood Spinal Unit was the time
spent with other seasoned wheelies.
Spending time with gentlemen such as Nigel
Buckingham, Muir Templeton, Peter O’Flaherty and
Richard Smaill gave him hope.
Andrew was inspired by those men. They were fully
employed, complete tetraplegics and were “just damn
good blokes”.
“They showed me what was possible which was
inspirational for a young fella who didn’t know what he
was going to do with his life,” he says.
“All of those guys showed incredible resilience. They had
health problems and issues to overcome but they all
showed that life was there to be lived. It wasn’t an easy
life, but it was a life. It certainly wasn’t over.”
It is an example that Andrew has followed every day.
A natural leader, Andrew has made a difference to
many people’s lives through his positivity and huge
life experience.
Andrew says it wasn’t just the work aspect of what his role
models in the Unit were doing either, it was they had their
life again.
“Some of those gentlemen were married and had kids and
all that other stuff that goes with it as well,” he says. “It
was important for all of the newbies coming into the unit
that life wasn’t over, there was still plenty of hope and life
to look forward to.”
Andrew says it never crossed his mind that he wouldn’t get back to work
following his accident.
—Andrew Hall
They showed me what
was possible which was
inspirational for a young fella
who didn’t know what he was
going to do with his life.
They were great examples for Andrew who says he’ll never
forget the events of his injury.
“I have thought about that night many times,” he says.
“I’ve gone over the what-ifs and everything … in the end,
looking back didn’t do me any good. I decided I needed to
look forward and I just got on with it.”
Starting again
Andrew has gone on to live a life less ordinary.
He says the key thing for him was once he got out of
hospital, he had some really good mates and he moved
into a student flat as soon as he got out of hospital.
“Partying, misbehaving and all sorts of carry on and that
was just about as normal as possible,” he says.