SNN_Dec 2021 Issue_web low res

SPINAL NETWORK NEWS 29
That’s A Good Question
Hamish Ramsden offers advice to those new to SCI
Hamish Ramsden has a special bond with his daughter Tessa.
As they say in life, there is no substitute for
experience. Hamish Ramsden sustained a
spinal cord impairment almost 30 years ago.
He has plenty of miles on the clock and is
more than willing to share his experience of
both the good and the bad with others.
The tetraplegic from the Hawke’s Bay, who was a keen
runner, tennis and rugby player and active farmer before
his accident, has never stopped achieving.
Hamish went on to develop a sheep stud with one of his
brothers, which grew into the largest privately owned
sheep and cattle genetics company in New Zealand.
He has been a director of several privately owned
companies, has run the Burwood Spinal Unit Education
Group and was on the ISO Technical Committee for
Wheelchair standards.
He is also proud to give back and make a difference.
For the last 12 years he’s worked as a teacher aide at a
Christchurch school, working with children with learning
difficulties.
We sat down with him to ask what advice he would offer to
those new to SCI.
Take me back to the time of your accident, what
happened?
I was 31. A fourth generation Hill Country farmer in the
Southern Hawke’s Bay. It was calving time and I was
marking a calf in the paddock, putting a tag in its ear. The
mother, the cow, took exception to that and charged
straight at me. I didn’t have enough time to get out of the
way. She knocked me over, dislocating my neck. That was
in October 1994, 27 years ago.
So, your life changed in a moment. What happened
next? Were you a patient at Burwood Hospital?
The rescue helicopter arrived at the farm and flew me to
Palmerston North. I was assessed there and then put on a flight
down to Christchurch in the middle of the night. I remember
we arrived at the Burwood Spinal Unit at about 1am.
And then your road to recovery started, can you
remember what it was like?
Yep, I can remember it well. I spent five months at the
Burwood Spinal Unit. I had the operation where the
surgeon fused my fifth and sixth vertebrae. Then it was a
slow recovery. I had to be really patient, taking “small
steps” at a time.
I got into the routine of getting down to the gym early
every day and getting into as much physical rehab as I
could… I wanted to give my body the best chance of
regaining as much movement as I could.