Spinal victim walks for cure

WALKING AGAIN: Simon Thornborrow, with his dog Ace, plans a marathon walk to raise money for the Spinal Cord Society of New Zealand. Inset: Some of the pins in his back inserted during seven hours of surgery.

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Motorbike accident victim Simon Thornborrow is lucky to be alive, let alone walking.

Despite spinal injuries, he will attempt to walk his first marathon on November 17 to raise funds for the Spinal Cord Society of New Zealand.

Mr Thornborrow was riding from his home in Wharehine - west of Wellsford - to work through the Dome Valley about 7.30am on January 10 when a car spun out near the Dome Cafe, crossing into his lane.

"I had nowhere to go," he says. "I flipped over the car and broke my L1 vertebra and crushed my spinal cord. I have eight pins and two rods in my back."

Mr Thornborrow, found lying on the road with his legs at a right angle to his body, is paralysed through his abdomen, upper legs and lower back.

"I know I'm very lucky, the fact that I lay my bike down, that I wasn't speeding helped. I'm lucky to be alive and walking. I tried my hardest to stay conscious, and I didn't let anybody move me."

"There was no pain when it happened, I just remember hitting the road, and then hitting it again. I remember being uncomfortable. It was only when I got in the ambulance that I started to feel an ache."

Surgeons took seven hours to reconstruct his spine in a straight line and stopped the L1 vertebra pressing on to the spinal cord.

"Conus Medullaris Syndrome is the correct medical term for the symptoms I now have from the incomplete compression of the spinal cord," he says.

"I've been going to physio for the last few months to get the strength back in my legs. It was about May or June that I got most of it back," he says.

The road to recovery has been long as Mr Thornborrow learns to live with his injuries.

"It took a while for my bones and pins to mesh. It's been an uphill struggle. I struggled to walk or sit down and stand up again."

A visit to the Auckland Spinal Unit changed his outlook on his situation.

"I saw the spinal victims there and realised how lucky I was to be able to walk," he says.

Mr Thornborrow has recently been able to return to work part-time at Maxnet in Albany.

He is preparing to walk the 22.5km Fullers Kerikeri Marathon on November 17 to raise as much money as he can for the Spinal Cord Society of New Zealand.

"They are trying to find a cure," he says. "They don't just want to make people comfortable in their wheelchairs, they want to get them walking again."

He says life has changed for him, and he wants to help the society.

"Sometimes my legs give way or spasm, and my bowels and bladder aren't working. I don't have much of a heat or cold sensation, and I still have swelling and bruising from 10 months ago.

"I'm hopeful that I'll get the feeling back, but my life's never going to be the same." The walk will take him about four hours and he is seeking sponsors.

Jesters Pies in Wellsford and Whangarei have also agreed to sell wrist bands for the society.

- © Fairfax NZ News