Teenage Burn Victim Crippled Again by ACC

In 2002, 13 year old Roger was involved in a Cart Racing accident, through which negligence of preventative maintenance from Kart City in Invercargill was deemed to be the cause. Roger was left with 3rd degree burns to his face, neck and arms. Loosing several fingers and requiring dozens of operations and a lengthy recovery period. A court case for the party responsible resulted in reparations ordered, but due to health issues only 35% of this was ever paid before being written off.

Roger carries with him the scars of this accident, but has not let it get in the way of him working hard to provide for his family. Roger provides for his partner and their two children, working 65 hour weeks to ensure all of their needs are met.

Due to the nature of burns, plastic surgeons often have to add additional grafts over time to ensure the patient can retain the ability to move the affected area, otherwise the scar tissue pulls tightly restricting quality of life. Roger recently underwent his ~50th operation to repair his hand and neck, and due to this is unable to work for 6 weeks. on the 4th of June roger was discharged from hospital to find that ACC would not meet the usual coverage they provide in the case of an accident, as this time around they have deemed he was 13 years old at the time and not working at the time of the injury, and therefore should only be entitled to the youth ACC rate for potential loss of earnings. rather than the 80% of current income that is given as a status quo, Roger is now struggling to make ends meet for his family during his recovery time, with ACC only providing ~50% of his regular income due to his employment status 16 years ago.

Read more about Roger's story here:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=1292591

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=1942501

http://tvnz.co.nz/content/3003126/2591764/article.html

https://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/95270938/invercargill-karting-accident-burns-victim-finds-light-behind-the-darkness