Founder’s paralysis due to ‘partying’
Entrepreneur Seeby Woodhouse is suffering facial paralysis and heart damage, which he says is due to ‘‘years of partying’’.
Woodhouse founded Orcon and Voyager Internet. He was also well-known in Auckland’s social scene and owned the mansion in which New Zealand’s Next Top Model was filmed.
But he made a Facebook post from Auckland Hospital on Sunday saying his health had deteriorated.
He wrote that he had spent much of the past year involved in spiritual study and personal development. But he had struggled to shake off the unhappiness of his split from his wife of one year, Geraldine Burnett.
‘‘Was I living or applying that learning, that lesson? That you can choose to be happy every day no matter what? No, not at all. Frankly, I was caught up in being a miserable bastard.’’
He recently returned from a trip to India, where he had contracted ‘‘Delhi belly’’ and then a fever.
When he went to his GP he discovered his blood pressure had hit an ‘‘astronomically high’’ 200/120.
‘‘It’s more likely to be a result of heart damage from years of partying, rather than fever, so I became scared and worried that I literally may drop dead some day soon.’’
Woodhouse said he then contracted a nose infection that spread to his ear, damaging his hearing, and then the left side of his face, which is now paralysed.
‘‘Sitting here, being admitted to hospital on a Sunday with a dodgy ticker, potentially permanently totally deaf [in my] left ear and [with] facial paralysis, I had to laugh at my situation as I finally got the message.
‘‘I started choosing to find stuff to be happy about: Like the fact I’m in New Zealand and I’ve got access to world-class medical care, I’ve got the money to pay for it, and any of the other dozens of things that I can find that are good in my life.’’
He said he was happier now than when he was in perfect health on holiday. ‘‘Half a smile is better than none.’’
Woodhouse has been approached for comment.