Gidday, guys. Hi, Gazza! How's it going? Gazza! I thought I was grateful for things, but there were a lot of things I took for granted. I shouldn't be alive. Don't want to get any of that luscious chest hair. My friends and family, it's just so much more important to me now. People in chairs are just the same as everyone else; we just don't stand up. Captions by Antony Vlug. www.able.co.nz Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2018 Time to get away. Are we all gonna fit? Yeah. Oh, OK, sweet. I'll pop round there. You want me to? Yep. Under here? Yep. OK. Oh, sweet, bro. Sweet as. Perfect. Awesome. Whoo-hoo. If you just shut that. My name is Gareth Lynch, and I am 21. I'm a student at Canterbury University, and I study natural resources engineering. Let's roll. I really wanted to work in some industry where I felt like I was making a difference. I've always been interested in climate change and ways to help combat that. But I had my spinal cord injury on the 16th of September 2016. The injury in my neck occurred right up between the C5 and C6 vertebrae. I have an incomplete injury, which means the spinal cord wasn't snapped. Just part of my bone pressed into the neck and blocked the signals that allow me to move my limbs. I have some sensation, but no movement below the level of my injury. I got assessed at losing 86% of my body. I need assistance when I'm getting out of bed. I can't control my core, so I can't lean forward and touch things down there without falling over. I can wash some of my body but not all of it. Do you want me to go up to the top here? Leave that one open today. Supposed to be a bit warmer. Cool. All set. That took a bit of getting used to, having someone else around what was a really personal time before my injury. You kinda just` It's hard to say, but just gotta get over the fact that this is the way it kinda has to be now and just accept it and move on. That's kinda the best way forward from there. So it's not too bad if you have a nice support worker. (CHUCKLES) I came to work with Gareth in June of last year. And over the time from then till now, I've watched this young man... amazing. He's amazing. I'm in awe of him every day. And he's got all his fantastic friends. You know, they are just right there, do anything, help him out. He can go and live his normal life. He's shown us that if you have the right attitude and you are prepared to step forward, then you're gonna do it. I'm sure he's gonna do great things. I certainly miss a lot of things about my old life ` if you want to put it that way. I definitely lost a lot of things that I was most passionate about. All my life I'd been really into sports. I liked to keep active as much as possible. I did surf lifesaving for about six or seven summers in total. Done a few rescues in my time. Got a couple of Rescues of the Year, resuscitations and near drownings. It was probably one of the best jobs anyone could have ` working on the beach and help people and save lives. So that's definitely the hardest part, not being able to keep doing those activities that were the highlights of my life. Yeah. This was the flat that I was staying in the year I had my spinal cord injury. When all my friends were here, I was completely sober, and... I thought what would be an entertaining stunt turned out to be a bit of a tragic event for myself and everyone involved who had to watch it. I'd done jumps off much, much higher things, and every time it's been fine, and so I was confident I could do it. It's just a bit of misjudgement. Yeah. I just didn't get it right. I jumped off the roof behind me into a shallow pool down there. It was one of the larger Warehouse blow-up sized pools you could get, just over waist-deep, and... jumped a little bit too far and hit my head on the side of the pool. My body kinda went into a state of shock. I had no movement and what felt like no feeling at all throughout my whole body, and I was completely aware of it, just not being able to move and being upside down under water. Everyone was waiting for me to get out of the pool. So that was quite scary. Just holding my breath. Luckily, someone realised I wasn't gonna get out of the pool and dragged me out. (SIREN HOWLS DISTANTLY) Yeah, it's still pretty real to me. This day, I haven't forgotten any of it. (SIREN HOWLS DISTANTLY) Then reality kinda set in, and I realised that I wasn't ever going to have the same life again. Could you give me a hand there, James? Perfect. We turned up just as it happened, really. But it was pretty surreal, eh, when it happened. Yeah. Well, so we're up on the roof, and then, sort of, hanging around, and Gaz just decides to leap and jump, and he dives over. And I was on top of the roof, so I just saw him leave, and he drops down below the` below the, sort of, edge of the roof... (CELL PHONE DINGS) ...and hits the pool that was there. And everyone was, you know, cheering and giving a bit of a hoot, and then there was just a... scream, I think, eh? Everyone just went quiet. And cos I couldn't see, so I wasn't too sure what was happening down below. But, yeah, Shae screamed, and everyone just dead` dead silent. It was one of those screams that you just knew something was bad. Yeah. Something went wrong, eh? And pulled Gaz out of the pool. And you could just kinda tell straightaway that something wasn't right. Yeah. And we kinda got him, like` Hamo was holding your head, and it was just like` I remember you saying, it's like, 'Nah, I can't feel my legs. I can't feel my toes.' And we're like, 'Nah, like, it's gonna be all good. It's gonna be all good.' Like, call the ambulance. It was just like, I don't know. You were sitting there, and you were like` Gaz was telling you, 'Squeeze my knees, Jimmy. 'Or squeeze my legs.' Yeah, 'Squeeze my toes.' And I was like squeezing them. 'Already am.' Yeah, you were like, 'Squeeze my toes, Jimmy,' and I was already doing it, and that's like when I saw Hamo, and Hamo just shook his head like, 'Stop.' And I was just like` Just didn't say anything. I was just like... Yeah. Oh, it was such a sobering moment. Yeah. We're just like... (EXHALES) Yeah, it was pretty bloody sobering. Like... It all started becoming a reality, like, 'Shit, this is actually...' Yeah. 'It's gone too far this time.' Yeah. Yeah, like, we almost sort of thought we were bulletproof. We could go away and do anything we want, but definitely a lot of consequences come with things, like you think things through, but you definitely shaken us up a bit, for sure. Especially just happening to Gaz as well. Like,... Yeah. ...just one of, like, the most active person` people I've ever met. Hmm. It puts you back on ground level with what you can do sometimes. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I definitely think it is a bit of a culture down here. Yeah. There's definitely, like` I think we've got quite a group of outgoing boys, as well, that are all` They're just all just competitive and want to beat each other, and then when you get that in a room together, it's just... Yeah. I think if you talk to any young male, and they'll be the same. They always wanna try and outdo each other. I mean` And you can imagine 30, 40 boys together. Each rubbing each other's shoulders, like... Everyone's here for a good time. Yeah. Yeah. It is human nature, though. Like, you were born to be curious. You're born to be, you know, wander out, and your mum's gonna call you back when you're a little kid. Like, you wanna get out and find out what things are. Like, you wanna see if you can do certain things ` see how high you can jump, that sort of stuff. Like... But... Yeah. It's just important to` Just` Know when it goes too far. Yeah. Yeah, risk-taking is always going to continue, and... (CHUCKLES) there's not really any reward without the risk. Um, yeah, I think it's... Uh, just in our blood. That` For me personally maybe more than others. I think it's in everyone's nature to kinda push the boundaries at times, but for me personally ` I know for a lot of the other boys ` our perspectives have changed greatly. Massively. Massively since Gaz's accident. Yeah. I remember sitting in the lounge, and it was kinda like` As you're still in intensive care, and you were in your coma, and it was just like` I remember all the boys sitting there, and we were just` They were all talking to each other like, 'What are we gonna do?' And we were just like, 'Nothing can change.' Nah. Gaz is gonna come out of this, and nothing's gonna change in how we do everything. Like he's still just gonna be there. We just gotta be there for him as well. Hmm. For sure. After I broke my neck, my next real memories are waking up in ICU, being surrounded by family and friends that didn't really know what was going on, and neither did I. I spent six and a half weeks in intensive care unit. I had a ventilator in for almost all of that time. When I finally was able to breathe on my own, I got moved to Burwood. At first, obviously, I had no idea where I could possibly end up. I'd lost over 17kg just lying in bed, pretty much all muscle mass. I could hardly lift my arms up. Like... Yeah, I was really` (CHUCKLES) Very, very weak. And I didn't have much confidence as to where I'd ever be able to get to. It was just so depressing. A lot of sitting around and thinking, and that's when you could quite easily get yourself upset. There's this really long, long depressive part of that, where you just` Things that you used to love doing ` getting up out on the waves, surfing, skating with all my friends on ramps. Those were the things that I really lived for, and now I had many, many days where I just` I didn't want to get out of bed because I was just so unmotivated and so depressed and upset at everything that was going on, but... things aren't gonna get better doing that, so... Quickly realised that there was really only one way to be, and, yeah, just have to be positive and have to appreciate the things that you have and keep moving forward. Keeping busy was great ` keeps the mind from dwelling on the things that you just can't quite do any more. Yeah, he's had a wonderful attitude. It's absolutely got Gareth through. I know there were dark times there, but he was nothing but positive. He set a goal early on, as soon as he got to Burwood Hospital, that he was gonna start university. I know there were many sceptics at the hospital that kept talking to John and I and saying, you know, 'You gotta have a plan B. You gotta have a plan B cos this won't work.' But we knew Gareth, and he achieved the goal that he set. I was told that I should just take a whole year off and go and live at home with my family, and that wasn't something I wanted to do. I made the choice pretty early to go against that advice from the health professionals, and I think it was definitely for the best. This year is my final year hopefully if everything goes to plan at university. After that, I'll be qualified as a natural resources engineer. (INDISTINCT CONVERSATION) My new job after my injury is gonna be obviously quite a lot different to the traditional engineer. I'm not gonna be able to do as much hands-on things, but I'm pretty confident in my ability to work on computers just as well as anyone else. If you look hard enough, there's always a little way of doing something that doesn't seem straight-forward. OK, welcome back again for a lecture. Since my injury, my studies have been a little bit different. I've just had to adopt new ways of studying for exams and taking notes. I can't really use a pen any more, so I get notes put online for me that I can access, and I just have to learn them a little bit differently, but it's all good. So based on the combination of those... Definitely more opportunities now that technology has advanced so much. If my injury happened 20-odd years ago, probably would be a whole new story, and the technology just wouldn't be available to help me do things just as easily as everyone else. Yeah, really great for us engineers. The world's designed for the able by the able. Get a little bit disappointed that people in the past made the curve so steep and difficult to access on a manual chair. But that's just how it was back in the day, and I think there's a` quite a bit more awareness that goes into planning now of the whole society's needs, not just the majority of people, so people with disabilities having a part to play in planning of infrastructure and stuff around the community. The first thing that comes across everyone's mind when they see me is that I'm in a chair. But obviously I know what I've done and what I'm capable of. And it's really up to an individual if they want to be open-minded to get to know me. It comes quite apparent just after talking to them that, yeah, I am not just a person in a wheelchair, just a person like everyone else ` and happy with things, and I have goals, and I have friends, and... Yeah, there's really no difference at the end of the day. But there's always gonna be some people that look at you twice on the street and feel sorry for you, and there's really no need for that sort of behaviour. People in chairs are just the same as everyone else. We just don't stand up. Gidday, guys. Hi, Gazza! How's it going? Gazza! Gidday, mate. Good to see you. Good to see you. Very well, mate. Gidday, mate. How are we? Very good. How's your day been? It's almost more intense a relationship with my friends. My close ones, anyway. They go so far out of their way to help me out. First problem we encountered, yeah ` how's Gazza gonna get up those steps. Hmm, a lot of steps. A lot of steps around these flats, so built a little ramp for him, whipped it together. We put our heads together, and we found ourselves a couple of long pallets. We thought, 'All right, we're engineers. We can make something surely.' Got a hammer and some nails. Found a hammer, some nails. And nailed a bit of wood together so it was quite sturdy. Made is structurally safe and sound, and, yeah, it handles it no problem. And quite aesthetically pleasing. Just had to install a few others around at some of the other flats. You don't realise how many problems they face in their daily life, with a simple thing like stairs, we just take it for granted, but even just a curb. A curb, yeah, for sure. Just trying to get up a curb that's got too steep. Like, we had to run a couple of rescue missions. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. But like, yeah, sure. Awareness, like building ramps like that. I mean, it doesn't take much. It's quite fun to do, work together and do something like that. And it helps him out, you know, tenfold, so glad we could help. I couldn't ask for a better group of guys to know and be hanging around. I know I could just call up more than 10 different friends, and they'd all just come out of their way. Everyone's got much better understanding what I can do and can't do. Plugging in a charger here and there. It's really, really cool to just have people like that around me. I couldn't have passed my degree ` yeah, I really doubt it ` if I didn't have all those guys around and I didn't catch up with them every day. It was so good for my mental health. Yeah, having a group of mates around you is, yeah, really, really important. Because I chose to go back to university, it is a very time-consuming process. So that means spending a little less time focusing on my rehabilitation, as such, in terms of functional things. I want to be able to live a life where I don't have to rely on other people. At the moment, that still seems quite far away. I really just wanna get stronger so I can get myself from A to B like I used to... with no help and do things my way and on my time, but I really hate asking other people for help all the time. I've never ever believed I'd be where I am now over a year ago. I never thought I'd be able to push this chair around. The thing that really got me past it is just actually realising that you can keep getting better and stronger. If you can appreciate that, it gives you motivation to keep pushing the more things with you life, and, really, anything's possible with` or within reason. (INDISTINCT CONVERSATION) We've been together for, like, four-ish years. For the first few weeks in hospital, Shae was there the whole time. It made my very dark world a lot brighter for the time being. (CHUCKLES) So, that was really lovely of her to make time to come and see me. It wasn't like a turning point or anything. Yeah, which was something I was possibly expecting. I didn't think much of myself after my injury. I thought I was pretty much a vegetable, but... (BOTH CHUCKLE) But it was only when Shae started encouraging me to do more things and try put more effort into things, when I sorta started to realise that I could still be myself and still have a` the same sort of relationship we had before, so it's cool. I was told one of the things after my injury ` when one door shuts, other doors open, and... I've come to Auckland for wheelchair rugby camp. They're training for the international competitions coming up. A little bit more. Yep. At the moment, I'm just being recruited into the development squad. I'd love to be part of the Wheel Blacks team eventually. I just have to get a lot faster. The opportunity to play for New Zealand is still quite far away at the moment, but I really can't wait to pursue it as hard as I can and see where I can get to. (INAUDIBLE) Keep going, Gaz! Keep going! Kinda the first touch of, like, high performance sport I've had since my injury, and, yeah, I really, really just love getting amongst it and performing with the other guys. It's a great vibe. That's something I really miss ` being able to just go out there and put your all into something. The comradery with the other athletes ` everyone knows everyone's limitations and just encourages people, and working as a team is all really, really cool. I'm so stoked to hang out with the people that know what it's like and can see people with similar levels of injury to me that can do things that I wouldn't dream of being possible if I didn't see them do it. Now put a bounce in! Nice one! I met Gareth at a training camp earlier this year. You know, we're similar function, and if he's anything like me, he'd be real impatient, and you just want everything to sorta happen right now. So it is tough to be a little bit patient, but you have to be, cos it does take time. How long ago did you have your injury? September last year. Oh, so it's just been over a year? Yeah. I got out of hospital this year in February. Oh, wow, that's really, really fresh, eh? I remember what it's like, sorta, working on independence. And obviously, I see that you're really, really keen on that, and really driven towards that. Totally. Yeah, definitely. Especially how you've just got straight back into uni and finish your year. I mean, wow, that's pretty impressive. Thanks, man. It's awesome. Yeah. I still have armrests on my chair. And I noticed that you took yours off. If you fall down or fall on your knees, how do you get back up? So, I remember having armrests, and when I first came out of Burwood, and real handy, eh, but you get a bit of shit, you know, especially when you get into the rugby. I have heard that. But you work out different techniques. So, sort of, have watched other people and just worked out techniques from there. You know, you get there, and, you know, you gain confidence, and, yeah. Essentially, you won't need to use them, you know. It comes over time, you know. Awesome, yeah. A bit of practice, a few spills, and you'll be all right. (CHUCKLES) Really grateful for the years I had lifesaving. It was six solid years of being a lifeguard, and happy I got to make a difference and really save some lives. That was way easier. Now I'm the one needing the help. Don't wanna get any of that luscious chest hair. How's that? Wicked. That sitting all right? It's OK. I think I am really lucky that my spinal cord injury happened at the time in my life that it did, cos I was at university surrounded by a huge group of mates, and they've just welcomed all the changes just as much as I have. It's been really cool ` people not treat me any different, because I had those relationships prior to my injury. If it happened later in life, I might not have those close group of friends around. Friends have been amazing and just wanting to help out in any way they can. You all right? Yeah, boy! Whoo! Yeah, boy! Here's Gazza! I thought I was grateful for things, but there were a lot of things I took for granted. My friends and family, it's just so much more important to me now. Yeah, they've definitely been a massive positive influence in my life, and I don't know what I would've done without them. What's the worst-case scenario? That was something that never went through my mind before, that's for sure. Yeah, there's definitely times when you do things you probably shouldn't have done. Yeah. And then that was just one of those times that you just wish you could take back. Yeah. Captions by Antony Vlug. www.able.co.nz Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2018