Former New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns does not know if he will ever walk again but says he is lucky to be alive after a series of life-threatening surgeries left him paralysed waist down.
The 51-year-old suffered an aortic dissection — an often fatal rare heart condition — in August and was on life support. He was saved by four open heart surgeries but he had a spinal stroke on the operating table.
Four months later, he is living at the University of Canberra hospital in a special rehabilitation facility.
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“I don’t know if I will ever walk again and I have made my peace with that,” he was quoted as saying in
Will be different
“It is now about understanding I can lead a full and enjoyable life in a wheelchair but at the same time knowing it will be different.”
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Cairns, who played 62 Tests and 215 ODIs for New Zealand between 1989 to 2006, is facing the possibility of spending the rest of his life in a wheelchair but he said he is simply “lucky to still be here”.
“It has been 14 weeks since I had my injury and it feels like a lifetime when I look back. I have zero recollection of the eight or nine days when I had four open heart surgeries.
“My wife Mel was with me the whole time and I have to refer back to her constantly with regards to what was going on. I was completely out of it.”
Cairns feels his sporting career is helping his recovery as he hopes to be able to walk again.
“I will try and squeeze everything I can in over the next 12-24 months. Having been in a career when bones and muscles take six weeks to repair, there is no timeline here.”
“I hope I will be going back on family holidays with the kids but I may be wheelchair bound for the rest of my life. At least I have the chance to be here and live life in a different way if that happens.”