SNN_December 2022 Issue_web low res

SPINAL NETWORK NEWS 21
decided to jump into Wellington Harbour for a swim to
freshen up. “I wasn't too keen, but I just went along with
it. I was the last one into the water and I misjudged the
depth as I dived in. “There was a loud bang and things
changed forever.”
Bryce was lying face down in the ocean and he couldn’t
move. He was fighting for his life. His mates faced the
hard decision to leave Bryce face down to protect his spine
or turn him over. “Thankfully they turned me over, that
allowed me to get back to breathing.”
In a state of shock, they waited for the emergency services
to arrive and take Bryce to ICU at Wellington Hospital.
Lying in a hospital bed, Bryce made the hardest phone
call of his life.
“I had to ring my Mum and Dad and tell them that I had a
high-level spinal cord injury. Mum answered the phone
first, she said wait there and she went to get my father and
he dropped the phone just with the sheer shock.
“To be honest their lives have never been the same since
that day. Barring the passing away of your loved one or
sibling, it's pretty much close to the top of the tree, so to
speak, in terms of a big moment to come to terms with.”
LEGACY: Bryce’s funding pitch to the Lotteries
Commission said they would take 1000 people out on
the boat every year. “That was our line in the sand”.
Starting again
Bryce was 29 years old. He was sent to Christchurch Hospital
ICU for two weeks to allow the injury to stabilise and then he
was in Burwood Spinal Unit for a further 11 months.
“It was a long time because of the way they managed my
break,” he says. Bryce had fractured his C2, C3, C5 and C6
in his cervical vertebrae. He was placed in head traction for
a minimum of eight weeks and then another two weeks.
It was the hardest time in his life. “To be honest, head
traction was a pretty tough time,” he says in his
understated way.
His family were his rock. His sister never missed a day
when he was in the Spinal Unit. And his Mum and Dad
who were living in Tauranga flew down regularly thanks
to the support of ACC. When he had a tough day, his sister
provided some inspirational words which changed his
perspective. “She said ‘it's happened to you for a reason
Bryce,” he says. You of all people who have our love and
support, but you have the ability to deal with it, you're a
larger-than-life character. You're a positive kind of guy.
So, you’ve really got to just try and drill down on that’.”
Bryce remembers one of the doctors at Burwood would
always say whatever person you were like before your
spinal cord injury, it magnifies afterwards.
“So if you're a bit of a rascal and you would get up to
mischief. Well, you can sort of easily go down that path
moving forward. Or you can go, right, how am I going to
make this work?” It was a turning point. “It might sound
silly, but I consider myself blessed that I went to the
Burwood Spinal Unit and learned off so many people that
actually genuinely had great advice.”
He says he has the nurses at Burwood to thank for his skin
integrity. People like Dr. Angelo Anthony and Dr. Rick
Acland taught him how to own his new life.
—Bryce Dinneen
There was a loud bang and
things changed forever.
“Whether it was teaching a support worker how to transfer
you or having an understanding about battling bladder
management, you've got to take responsibility,” he says.
“It’s going to be tough. It’s going to be challenging, but
you can actually have some quality of life moving
forward. That’s why I consider myself grateful.”
Back into the outside world
Bryce found the transition to home scary.
“I didn’t want to leave Burwood because I had everything
there I needed. Doctors, physios, support. But there’s that
transition period which everyone has to focus on moving
forward. And it is hard.
“It took me a long time to get back into society.”
As a young man, Bryce was a keen sportsman. He did a lot
of running and playing representative cricket. He said to
excel in those two pursuits you need to be mentally strong
and that helped in his recovery. Bryce turned his
attention to helping others and making a difference.
Wish4Fish was born
The idea of fishing again stayed with him. He had a
number of conversations in the Spinal Unit, and he was
told “Bryce we don’t go fishing because it’s too hard”.
Bryce thought to himself: ‘I am not accepting that. I’m
going to figure out how to do this’. And the more people I