Cody 'definitely on the mend'

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Cody Walsh is reluctant to have his picture taken. It's a sign of how far he's come since the Nelson Mail left him a year ago.

He no longer wants to be in the public eye because of his illness; he wants to move on with his life, and asks politely that this be his final interview.

Now nearly 19, Cody has just been to Pearl Jam and "did something crazy", getting himself a mohawk for the concert.

"That's why I'm wearing a hat."

It wasn't long ago that going to such a concert would have been impossible. After a lifetime of intense and recurring stomach pain, Cody checked into Nelson Hospital in September 2007 with pain "like a thousand knife stabs".

He had the most severe form of malrotation volvulus – a birth abnormality where the bowel sits incorrectly in the body – and had 90 per cent of his lower and upper intestines removed. Now what's left of them is joined together, meaning the upper intestine has to teach itself to work with the lower one to absorb food.

It appears to be working so far, said Cody.

"Everything's looking good. I've gained a little bit of weight and I'm able to absorb a little bit more in my gut now whereas I wasn't able to before."

Cody still spends 13 hours four to five times a week hooked up to a bag of TPN (total parenteral nutrition) which delivers all the nutrients he needs. A fistula, where a vein was joined to an artery in his arm, has meant he can now survive on TPN and avoid the old complications with infection in his veins and blood.

He was supposed to have a $1m bowel transplant in Toronto, but that is no longer critical and the money raised for that operation remains in trust.

"I'll only need it if my liver packs in but my liver's looking very good at this stage. It could be a few years, it might not even happen."

Cody's mother, Natalie Cozens, said it had been a "hideous journey" over the past few years, with "seven or eight near-death experiences".

"It's getting easier now but it was horrible, really bloody awful,"she said. "The surgeon said he never wanted to see anything like that again."

Although he once couldn't move far from the couch and wasn't sure if he'd see 21, Cody can plan much more with his life now. Currently taking a break from a chef course at Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology, he will return to complete it this year. His mother got him to make his "famous chocolate cake" for Christmas Day, and he planned to see a number of concerts over the summer.

"I'd like to move out of Nelson, maybe go up to Auckland, Christchurch, maybe even overseas in a few years' time," he said.

"I'm doing well. I'm definitely on the mend."

- © Fairfax NZ News