John still bowls along on one leg

ROBERT CHARLES/The Dominion Post

A SPORTING LIFE: John Daly didn't take long to get back on the bowling greens after his success last weekend at the Paralympics national championships - he turned out for his Paritutu club team yesterday.

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John Daly was never going to let losing a leg derail his sporting dreams.

In Lower Hutt at the weekend the New Plymouth 73-year-old amputee, former Waikato junior rugby representative and successful wrestler was back in the limelight.

Representing Southern North Island, Daly was a member of the winning triples lawn bowls team at the 2009 Paralympics national championships.

The event, run over four days, attracted 120 athletes representing five regions.

Joining Daly, the team's skip, were Joan Weir, of Palmerston North, and Auckland's Richard Bentley, who was the lead.

"It was great, a real thrill to come home with a gold medal," said Daly yesterday, adding he "bombed out" in the pairs and was too fatigued to contest the singles.

In 1994, when Daly was 58 and working as a prison officer, he suffered a burst aorta.

It changed his life forever.

"I was lucky someone called in at home and found me like that and called the doctor and they rushed me to hospital and operated on me."

Unfortunately, Daly's blood circulation to his lower body was seriously affected.

"My arteries were all blocked up with gunk and I swelled up and after a week up in hospital in Hamilton gangrene set in and I had to have my leg amputated.

"That was a big learning curve. I dropped down to 75 kilograms and I didn't know where I was for a while."

Two years and a lot of rehabilitation later, Daly found bowls.

He was introduced to disabled lawn bowls at the Waimea club in New Plymouth.

"I've gone on from there," he said between ends of a Gilmour Shield game for his Paritutu club team yesterday afternoon.

"I couldn't do it without the support of friends and family that help me through. That's what has allowed me to do it."

Daly showed an aptitude for bowls early on and has grown to love the sport.

"Yes I do and we have fine fellowship and camaraderie amongst us. That's what I enjoy so much."

Daly represented New Zealand for the first time at the world wheelchair bowls in Sydney in 1999.

It was an experience that whetted his appetite.

"Since then I have raised, begged and borrowed money to go over to Australia where I've played competitions every couple of years since."

Those trips have seen him pick up four bronze medals for disabled bowlers, but until last weekend gold had proved elusive.

Daly experienced another health scare early this year being diagnosed with bone cancer.

But the latest blood tests indicate he is in remission. "The specialist doesn't want to see me for another 12 months, so that's good."

Daly said a lot of people had asked him how he managed to beat his cancer.

"I just say it was B and B – bowling and brewing," he laughed as he spun his chair into position to fire down another bowl.

- © Fairfax NZ News