Man crushed by quad bike backs new build

It was meant to be a very ‘‘innocent trip’’ for Blenheim man Bruce Vallance; a Saturday spent with his mates exploring the forest tracks of the Waikakaho Valley on quad bikes.

But after his four-wheeler flipped, leaving him pinned with severely broken vertebrae in the remote Marlborough valley, Vallance was in desperate need of a rescue.

‘‘Things were going really well,’’ Vallance said. ‘‘We had just got to the end of the trail. One of the guys in the group was an experienced quad biker and went ahead to check if the route was safe.

‘‘But we misread that. We should have just waited for him.’’

Vallance remembered the track got ‘‘extremely steep ... but at that point you’re committed’’.

‘‘I realised the bike was going to flip ... Once the weight came back on the back wheels, the whole top came up and fell on top of me. I made the split-second decision to stay with the bike, and so the bike crushed me.’’

Vallance said felt the three vertebrae in his back go ‘‘crunch, crunch, crunch’’.

But with feeling in his arms and legs, he knew his spinal chord was OK.

As it turns out, the helicopter that came to Vallance’s rescue was already close to his heart.

The company he worked for, Expol, had donated underfloor insulation for the ‘Helicopter House’ going up for auction in Nelson on December 9.

The net proceeds from the house sale go the Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter Endowment Trust.

‘‘We decided to come on board for the ‘Helicopter House’ only three weeks before the accident,’’ Vallance said. ‘‘We had just given them the product not long before it all happened.’’

Vallance said the rescue helicopter was a charity he and his company strongly supported, donating to the Dunedin ‘Helicopter House’ two years ago.

Despite their support, Vallance never thought he would ever need their services. At the emergency room at Blenheim’s Wairau Hospital, Vallance thought he’d men- tion his support to the crew.

‘‘At first I didn’t want to say anything, but it was really my way of saying ‘thanks’. You know, that’s why I mentioned it.

‘‘I guess out of all this it makes you realise how well communities work together to make people’s lives better. Often times you get involved with a charity and you don’t really think too much about it. ‘‘But it is a really vital part of what keeps communities working well; helping people in real times of need.’’

Mitre 10 Mega Nelson along with the local branch of New Zealand Certified Builders have built the 149-square-metre ‘Helicopter House’ to be auctioned on December 9.

After the auction, the house will be cut into two pieces and transported to the new owner’s property.

DAVID JAMES/STUFF Expol business manager Bruce Vallance is grateful to the Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter after he was rescued from a quad bike accident in Marlborough.