Source: Radio New Zealand
A Wellington man who severely injured his spine and is tetraplegic has climbed the equivalent of Mount Everest in a year.
Andrew Leslie walked to the top of Mount Kaukau 35 times in the past 12 months as part of his rehabilitation.
Six years ago, Leslie injured his spinal cord in a mountain bike accident. He spent five months in hospital and had to learn to navigate life as a tetraplegic.
“Now, when you hear that word, you probably think about someone being paralysed from the neck down in a wheelchair – and I was for a while. But with spinal cord injury, every injury is different and every outcome is different,” Leslie explained.
Andrew Leslie. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Leslie managed to walk out of Burwood Hospital, but moving his body remained an ongoing struggle.
He described movement as not coming to him automatically, as having to think about it before getting his body to do it.
“I have to make myself move. So I need to use my brain in a different way to be able to take a step. And walking is actually an extremely complicated thing.”
As a result, he has to keep woking on his recovery to understand and train his body. “I’ll never recover from this injury. Rehab for me is about how I optimise what I’ve got.”
To motivate himself through this difficult process, he sets himself yearly goals. The first year after his accident, he walked to the crash site. The year after, he ran 5km around Karori Park. One year, he managed a five-day course with Outward Bound.
His favourite goal was walking the Abel Tasman track with his friend and fellow tetraplegic, George Thompson. He described it as “just an incredible experience”.
Andrew Leslie sets himself yearly goals to motivate him through rehab. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
The pair walked 60km over five days – a huge physical feat that required thorough planning and a crew. “But we did it,” Leslie beamed.
He said it was “extremely satisfying getting over that finish line — actually, incredibly emotional getting over that finish line”.
This year, he chose somewhere closer to home – Mount Kaukau in Khandallah, where he used to trail run before his accident.
“I really wanted to get back into the bush here and the thought of getting back up to the top of Mount Kaukau was just such a hugely motivating goal for me.”
He said this track was not particularly accessible for people with disabilities, and it probably never would be but did not necessarily need to be.
He said: “The things that I find difficult on this track, that able-bodied people wouldn’t find difficult, for example, is how some of the stairs sort of create little trip hazards, or if there’s been some erosion at the bottom of a step and it makes that first step really high. Those are some of the things which can literally trip me up, even just like little rocks that poke up out of the track, that sort of stuff.”
Wellington City Council said, “Mt Kaukau is particularly steep and a challenge for some users – the track itself is a difficult to maintain. When budget allows, we do try and improve it to make it more sustainable to reduce the costs over the long-term.”
The top of Mount Kaukau in Wellington. Wikicommons
It added that it is aware of the accessibility challenges and is working with an accessibility stakeholder group which includes Leslie to consider ongoing improvements for the Southern Walkway on Matairangi.
Raising awareness about accessibility in the outdoors is a large part of why Leslie told his story. He has been promoting guidance about accessibility measures which councils and the Department of Conservation could put in place and has headed Nuku Ora, a national kaupapa focused on helping people move.
“It’s hugely important for anyone to be able to connect with nature,” he explained.
He stressed that “accessibility means different things to different people” and wanted to move away from the single accessible standard track, which caters especially to wheelchair users. He said there were ways of making the outdoors more accessible without going for “full bells and whistles”.
For next year’s goal, he already had his heart set on another Great Walk: Lake Waikaremoana. He hoped that Thompson would join him again.
His rehabilitation has been supported by ACC, whose head of client recovery, Matthew Goodger, said: “We’re proud to see him continue to set and achieve his goals and pleased to have been able to support him in his recovery. We see first-hand the difference sport and recreation can make to people after a life-changing accident, and Andrew’s story is a great example of that impact.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand