Long road to recovery

Burns victim on comeback trail

PATRICK HAMILTON/Fairfax NZ

BRAVE RIDER: Jamie Nicoll, of Nelson, with his partner, Bridie Fahey, is competing in the New Zealand mountainbike championships this weekend as he recovers from serious burns suffered in Chile in 2010.

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Sixteen months ago, Nelson mountainbiker Jamie Nicoll was given a 10 per cent chance of living, after he was badly burnt in an accident while building a mountainbike trail in Chile.

This weekend, he is competing in the New Zealand mountainbike championships in Nelson.

After the accident, his partner, Nelson midwife Bridie Fahey, and his family rushed to his side in hospital in Santiago.

With third-degree burns to 35 per cent of his body, Mr Nicoll spent five weeks in intensive care and two months in hospital in Chile, undergoing 18 operations to help repair his damaged skin.

"It was the most painful stuff I've experienced," he said. "Probably people have experienced more pain, but that was probably pretty extreme on the scale of things."

After two months in hospital, he returned to New Zealand in November 2010. Mr Nicoll then spent the next 10 months as an outpatient at Hutt Hospital's burns unit, undergoing further operations and intensive rehabilitation. A further year of recovery and more surgery lies ahead. "It's the ultimate endurance event," Mr Nicoll said.

He rode mountainbikes competitively when he was young, representing New Zealand in the 1995 World Championships in downhill and cross country, but this year marks his return to racing at a national level. He was keen to get back to racing before the accident, and said this desire was galvanised during his recovery.

"It's been one of my drives and focus, to get back up and in action and fighting fit on the bike."

Mr Nicoll was working building a trail on a ravine in a remote part of Patagonia when he was burnt.

He was using a jack hammer to widen a ledge and a problem with the machine caused pressure to build up in the tank, which then exploded. He was wearing a safety harness and ropes to work on the exposed ledge and was left hanging from the ropes after the explosion.

Naturally cool-headed, he said he was able to swing back to the ledge, and ran to the nearest creek to douse his burns. He then ran three kilometres to a nearby lake to wait for help, before he was picked up by a military helicopter and flown to the town of Coyhaique.

Mr Nicoll said he got back into riding gradually, initially riding to appointments at the burns unit, and building up to his first mountainbike ride on a Wellington trail.

"It's quite good to jump on your bike and plough down a Wellington classic trail and be feeling instantly on the game."

This weekend, he will ride in the Masters One category in both the downhill and the Super D – a combination of downhill and cross-country. Riding in the South Island series of the NZ MTB Cup this year, Mr Nicoll has already experienced podium finishes.

He is second in the masters' one category after the three rounds of the cup held to date, riding in the downhill category as part of Nelson-based Team Morewood/Subliminal Motion.

"If people say, `How are you doing?', I'm doing well, I'm doing good. Yes, every day it's all tight and things are always annoying you, but you can't just think about them. It isn't going to help you really."

Miss Fahey said she was proud and happy to see Mr Nicolls back on his bike and competing, especially since their lives were put on hold for a year after the accident. "It's great to see him doing so well."

Both are grateful for the support of friends and family.

"People are awesome. You can't make it through a big trauma without wonderful friends.

"It just makes it so much easier having a good support system and people being there for you. It's what gets you through some days," Miss Fahey said.

- © Fairfax NZ News