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Help to support Max and his family

  • Part 5

      6 January 2024
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    The amazing medical staff that were with Max at the track and did such an incredible job and without doubt contributed massively to how well Mas is doing, the doctors and nurses at Waikato ICU, the doctors and nurses at Aucklands Starship hospital, the team at The Wilson Centre, Ardmore Rugby Club and Maxs team, the MX community (Puke and South Waikato MX clubs especially), Rosehill Intermediate staff, the ABI team involved with Max's rehab since being home, all of those that have asked about Maxs progress and how hes doing, everyone that has gone on to the Givealittle page and left such amazing messages about Max and support and the incredible generosity, Davinas work place, the company I work for, Shipowners Protection Ltd who have been incredibly supportive, and finally all the family and friends that have provided so much support.

    Thank you all so, so, so, so much!!!!!

    Maxs mum Davina, Maxs brother Nate, and his dad Glenn.

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  • Part 4

      6 January 2024

    There is still plenty work to do on getting his left side working better, but considering where he was several months ago and the expectations based on the inital prognosis he is doing extremely well!!

    Its great to have chips and dip with him again, watch rugby and motor sport, cook him steak on the barby, even putting up with the lip and the regular reminders about how much better he was than me at MX, I cant argue with that!! It has been a truly life changing experience on so many levels, and I cant say how grateful his mum, brother and myself are that we still have Max, and I say that because of the other MX families that have been through much worse, my heart goes out to you all!!

    Finally, we would like to thank everyone, and there are so many people, for the overwhelming support, generosity and kindness, and most of all the lovely things people have said about Max. The following are those we would like to thank, without mentioning individuals of which there are so many, but hopefully Ive covered most of them and those who I have spoken to are aware of how thankful and grateful we are!!

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  • Part 3

      6 January 2024

    Initially the plan was for Max to spend three months in rehab, this was cut to two months because he progressed so quickly and was so motivated and driven to do more and more on his own, but mainly because he just wanted to come home.

    On the 28th July Max was discharged from The Wilson Centre and we were heading home, it was such a great feeling, so many emotions, and the start of the next phase of Maxs recovery. The care he received at The Wilson Centre was absolutley amazing, so many people put so much effort into getting Max better!! Once home it was then time to start working on improving function and mobility with Physios, OT's, Speech Language therapists, etc, and work through a new set of challenges where Max was now back in his normal environment, but not as he was before.

    Over the last few months Max has continued to improve including starting back at school, for the last three or four weeks he was there until 1:30pm most days. He has been ten pin bowling, been playing badminton, started going to the gym, getting on a bike on an indoor trainer, amoung many other things. He has learnt to drive his RC car with one hand, play his PS with one hand and his mouth to move the joystick....for those games where he is'nt using the steering wheel :), he has just adapted and will keep trying stuff.

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  • Part 2

      6 January 2024

    Hearing his voice and seeing him move his eyes was such an amazing feeling!! We still didnt exactly know what it all meant but they were very encouraging signs. The huge team of doctors and nurses at Waikato hospital and Starship were absolutley amazing and the care he received, the support provided to us and the dedication was superb!!

    From that point Max just kept improving and surprising everyone on a daily basis. After moving from ICU to the High dependency unit the improvement was rapid and he was so determined to do more and more on his own. After a week or so in the HDU he could talk much better and was able to start eating proper food again, well, it wasnt stuff fed through a tube, and it was pretty obvious his love of Rugby and MX hadnt changed at all. He still asked about his rugby team and wanted to know when he could go and watch them play and how they were doing, he still talked about MX, the events he had raced in, the MXGP, AMA, and even helped his mum remember Courtney Duncans name. He was in ICU for about 10 days and then 3 weeks in the HDU.

    The day we left was hospital, on the 6th June, and moved to The Wilson Centre where his rehab could begin was fantastic as it meant the need for medical care was no longer a priority, but at the same time very nerve racking as it was another unfamiliar environment, and the security of having doctors and nurses close by was a little unsettling after having so many around for the last month or so.

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  • Max’s Update Part 1

      6 January 2024

    Hi, this is a very belated message and update on Max, so firstly apologies for not posting this much earlier and secondly for not being very good at updating people on how Max is doing! Im not on social media but also for the first couple of months especially when there were so many unknowns it was very difficult to answer the question as to how Max is doing. Needless to say its been an extremley difficult and challenging last 7 months or so.

    I cant put into words how devastating and heartbreaking the first couple of weeks were, seeing Max in that bed and trying to comprehend what it all meant and not being able to do anything about it was worse than Maxs mum and myself could ever have imagined!! The doctors and nurses did a fantastic job and the care he received was incredible, but there were no answers, so many unknowns....but what we were told was to not expect too much, although no one really knew, the fact was the brain injury was significant. Without going into loads of detail, the story from here, we are sooooooo happy to report is better than any of us imagined, but certainly what we wished and hoped for!!

    Once Max started to come out of the coma after just over a week, he had stabilised enough for this to happen and the critical period of swelling had passed, it was great to see him start to respond and his body fighting. One by one the tubes etc were removed and Max started doing more and more things on his own, it was a slow and vert gradual process.

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