Paralysed farmer on long road to recovery

Press, 24 August 1988, Page 6

Paralysed farmer on long road to recovery

PA Auckland A Hawke’s Bay farmer lying paralysed in a United States hospital after a motor racing crash has started the long road to recovery. Mr Chris Harris, aged 39, suffered a badly crushed spinal cord in a 290km/h crash during a world land speed record attempt in Utah last Tuesday. He is paralysed from the chest down and doctors at the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City have given him little chance of walking again. The hospital stay is also costing Mr Harris about $l5OO a day because travel insurance does not cover motor racing accidents. From the hospital on Monday evening, a cousin and close friend, Mr Chris Joblin, said Mr Harris would be moved to another unit to begin the slow process of rehabilitation. “He is really keen to get into rehabilitation,” Mr Joblin said. “He has been very frustrated just lying here and wants to start doing something to work towards regaining some movement.” Mr Joblin said that

after several days in the unit doctors would make a clearer assessment of how much mobility Mr Harris could recover. At present, he has some upper arm control but nothing below the elbow. “Chris is extremely fit, both physically and mentally, and has adopted a very positive attitude,” Mr Joblin said. He said Mr Harris had received wonderful support at the hospital from his wife, Leslie, their two children, Lincoln, aged 15, and Philippa, aged 10, as well as his car support crew and hospital staff. He had also been buoyed by mail from friends and relatives in New Zealand. “But the thing he wants most now is to get home,” Mr Joblin said. Family members, approached the Ministry of Defence and Air New Zealand on Monday about the possibility of flying Mr Harris home soon after he is allowed to be moved from hospital in about 10 days. A spokeswoman for the Minister of Defence, Mr Tizard, said the Air Force would consider the family request to divert one of its aircraft to pick up Mr Harris. But she said the first

possible flight was not until late September, and she had advised the family that Air New Zealand would be able to fly Mr Harris home weeks sooner. Appeals have been launched to help the Harris family to pay the $l5OO a day hospital bill, the $3900 emergency helicopter flight to the hospital, and the $15,000 cost of flying him home. The racing association at the Bonneville salt flats in Utah where the crash occurred has raised $10,500 from its members. An Auckland friend and drag racing colleague of Mr Harris, Mr Garth Hogan, launched an appeal on Monday among competitors and sponsors of the Hastings track where Mr Harris was to officiate this year. Mr Harris, who runs the Tangiwai sheep station near Wairoa, was attempting to break the world land speed record for Cclass street roadsters. He was only skm/h from the record when his home-built roadster spun out of control and flipped at least six times. The attempt was the culmination of a 20-year ambition for Mr Harris, a former national drag race champion.