‘I just wanted to get back to how I was’
Doctors told Aidan Terpstra’s family he would never walk, talk or eat again.
But the 24-year-old, who was unconscious for months after he was punched in the head in Palmerston North two years ago, is making a remarkable gradual recovery. At the beginning, he had a tube inserted in his stomach to feed him and he was reliant on caregivers for his every need. Now, he can speak, eat and walk with the help of a walking stick.
A neuropsychologist told his mother that in the 24 years she had been working in that field, she had never seen anybody recover like Aidan Terpstra.
But the man himself is more humble. ‘‘I just tried to do it. I just wanted to get back to how I was.’’
His biggest goal is to ride his bike again. ‘‘I would also like to walk unassisted, because it’s frustrating not being able to walk.’’
He has also continued to do work for his firewood business to keep himself busy. ‘‘That’s me time. I don’t like sitting around doing nothing.’’
His mum said the problem now was slowing him down, which was in stark contrast from the first diagnosis.
‘‘They virtually implied Aidan’s brain wouldn’t function well.’’
Aidan Terpstra suffered not one, but two severe traumatic brain injuries in February 2016, when he was punched in the head. He was knocked out before he hit the concrete, so his head smashed into the hard ground once, rebounded up, and hit it again.
Joseph William Kurene was charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent to injure, but was found not guilty in June 2017 when the jury decided he acted in self-defence.
Aidan Terpstra was flown to Wellington Hospital, where he was in a coma for months. Doctors said his chances of surviving were slim, but Bronwyn Terpstra kept telling them not to dismiss his drive and determination.
Before the punch, he was athletic. A keen mountainbiker and sportsman, he won the Tough Guy and Gal Challenge in 2015.
This determination has seen him recover to a point some people thought would be impossible.
It hasn’t been an easy journey for Bronwyn Terpstra, her husband Jim Terpstra and their son. In the past two years, Aidan Terpstra has had a hip replacement and had pneumonia three times.
‘‘He lost 131⁄ kilograms in two weeks. It was the third time we thought we were going to lose him,’’ Bronwyn Terpstra said.
He has had four brain operations, leaving him with a scar that runs from one ear to the other.
His throat also has a hole in it from having a tracheotomy and he had to have a pump inserted into his stomach.
Aidan Terpstra still has carers at the family’s home in Rangitı¯kei 24/7 and his mum said the ordeal had stretched the family financially.
His parents spent more than a year travelling to Porirua or Wellington every day to visit. He arrived home in March 2017. Aidan Terpstra said it was important to focus on the future.
‘‘If you look back, you’re living in the past.’’