SNN_Dec 2021 Issue_web low res

SPINAL NETWORK NEWS 11
“When you go back to your community or home, it’s quite
foreign for people to talk about things like bladder or
bowel or skin issues. So you feel different and isolated.”
Lee lives in South Auckland. He says the feeling of being
lonely or isolated would be even worse for those with a
spinal cord impairment (SCI) living in rural parts of
New Zealand.
“What are they supposed to do? Who are they going to
talk to? You see no one else like you and you feel
completely alone.”
He says there is no substitute for the support of lived
experience with an SCI.
“When you go through a traumatic event like damaging
your spine, it’s nice to have someone else who is going
through the same thing.
“They know what you are going through and that is
exactly where the conversation starts from.”
Meeting people at a life changing moment
Lee has gone full circle.
After being a patient at the Auckland Spinal Unit, he now
works for Spinal Support NZ as a Peer Support worker.
Peer and Whānau Support is a service where people with
lived experience of SCI help mentor and support a person
following their impairment. They help them get familiar
with their new life.
“It’s a huge privilege for me,” he says. “You are meeting
people at a life-changing moment. It’s good to be able to
listen and make a difference. I try to help them find
hope again.”
He says the months of adjusting to life as a tetraplegic
with the help of the Peer Support team at the Spinal Unit
were invaluable for him.
During his stay in Ōtara, Lee met a number of men who
mentored him and changed his life.
One day, mouth painter Wayne Te Rangi pulled up to talk
to Lee.
“He told me what would happen if I didn’t look after my
body,” says Lee. “But he also told me what was possible
– that he had travelled the world and did all of these
exhibitions with his painting, I was like, ‘What?!’
“This guy had no function in his arms and he had very
limited mobility, only shoulders and above and this
dude is doing that? He was living a full life. That really
shifted my mindset and changed my perspective on what
is possible.”
A game changer
Lee believes the increased support will be ground
breaking for the SCI community.
“This investment will allow more people to have those
important conversations,” he says.
You’re meeting people at a
life-changing moment.
—Lee Taniwha
A LONELY ROAD. Lee says its hard being in a community and not seeing anyone like you.