On a typical Auckland day - rain one minute, sun the next - in January 2002 I decided to quickly complete the job of trimming the bamboo hedge that grew between our house and the neighbour’s driveway. The trimming was a bi-annual event. As the bamboo grew it took away Jeff and Sandra’s (our neighbours from across the road) view of Mission Bay and the Hauraki Gulf main channel where the America’s Cup races were to run in 2003. My wife Vicki and I were happy to trim the hedge so as our neighbours could see the sea. Jeff and I had trimmed most of the top of the hedge the previous day but had to leave about 10 bamboo shoots, as it was getting late and we both had to go to Saturday night dos.
The next day, the Sunday of Auckland Anniversary weekend, I said to Vicki that I was quickly going to whip up the ladder that was still in place in the bamboo hedge and trim the remaining shoots that Jeff and I had left from the day before.
I was on the 2nd to top step of the almost new, 14-foot, aluminium extension ladder extended to 26 feet. My shins were pushed against the top step, giving me stability to grab a shoot with my left hand and cut it with my right. I cut a shoot and the cut piece, about 10 feet long, toppled towards the neighbour’s driveway. I grabbed it with one hand to stop it, and then started to bring it back up to the top by lifting it hand over hand.
I had forgotten about the three power lines on the neighbour’s driveway side of the hedge. As I lifted the bamboo it snagged on the lines and slowly brought them together. The outer insulation of the lines was perished and when two lines touched I received a shock.
Vicki was holding the ladder. She happened to look up just in time to see me flying through the air. She said she heard nothing but the thud of me hitting the ground.
I landed on my side. I suffered 23 fractures of my ribs, a broken shoulder and punctured lungs. I was momentarily concussed. When I awoke I didn’t feel much pain but I found breathing very difficult. I couldn’t seem to get any air and it slowly got worse. I remember that horrible feeling vividly. Vicki phoned for an ambulance and shouted for the neighbours who came quickly. The ambulance arrived and the ambulance driver tried to give me oxygen but I kept removing the mask, it felt more of a hindrance than help. The ambulance man and the neighbours got me onto a stretcher and carried me to the ambulance and we set off for the emergency ward.
Later Vicki told me that the doctors told her that my injuries were serious and while they had stabilised my condition the nature of the injury had the potential to turn out badly. The hospital social services lady waited with Vicki. This lady had previously talked alone with Sandra, the neighbour who had come to the hospital to support Vicki and had warned Sandra to expect the worst.
I woke 3 days later with Vicki next to me. I survived and my recovery was quick within 4 weeks I was out of hospital and within 3 months I was back at work.
The day I came home from hospital I was watching TV and the very first ad I saw was the ACC advertisement with the guy painting the guttering of his two-storey villa. The one where the ladder slips and the guy ends up spread-eagled on the concrete driveway. When I saw that I felt sick and realised just how lucky I was to be alive without any permanent disablement. I still cringe when I see that ad along with the other similar ACC ads – the guy slipping over in the bathroom and the lady tripping on a toy in her lounge and crashing onto and through the glass coffee table.
I was very lucky the day I had my accident, On reflection I realise just how fragile life is and how quickly it can be taken from us. At the time of my accident I was in business with three other partners. Vicki and I had a huge mortgage, were personally guaranteeing the company’s bank loan and overdraft facility by means of a second mortgage and had given personal guarantees to several finance companies in order to purchase computer equipment for the company. If I had died that day and had not had life insurance Vicki would have had trouble coping with the debts let alone the future costs of bringing up two young boys.
At least my life was insured. If I had died she would have had all the debt covered and a little bit left over – not much but enough to help her through her grief and to continue to go forward in life unfettered by a legacy of mortgages and debt.
However, I shudder when I think what would have happened if I had lived but had been paralysed or never able to work again. I wouldn’t have received a life insurance benefit because I hadn’t died.
Now days a lot more people live after suffering a serious illness or accident, like cancer or heart disease, and it’s why trauma and disablement insurance were invented.
If I had suffered a disability or hadn’t been able to work for a long time and I had trauma or disablement insurance, I would have received a lump sum payout to use for whatever I wanted.
I implore you. If you don’t have life, income protection, trauma or disablement insurance, please put it on your must do before I die list. As much as this website is designed to get you to contact me, it’s just as important as a reminder for you to purchase some form of life insurance so that your loved ones are taken care of if you have an accident like mine but with a different outcome.
