MARATHON EFFORT
Alice puts her trainers on
This time last year, Alice Pritchard was living her daily life as a new entrant teacher in Wellington. Little did she know that just 12 months later she would be training for a marathon – and not just any race, but one of the biggest in the world. In November, Alice will be running the New York City Marathon.
“And I’m not that athletic,” Alice (31) says bemused. But for many who know her, they won’t be surprised about the feat she is about to take on. After all, she is David Pritchard’s daughter and he is the reason why she is running.
In 2008, David (71) who was and still is a prolific businessman, became a tetraplegic at the age of 61. Ten years earlier, he was on a business trip in Rotorua when he broke his neck after coming off a flying fox. Doctors operated on the injury, fusing his spine to stabilise his neck.
However, in May of 2008, David contracted an infection which aggressively attacked his spinal cord, severing it at C3/C4 level.
As David puts it, “I walked into hospital and a couple of days later I was a tetraplegic. Absolutely no movement or sensation below my upper chest,” he recalls.
The Pritchards rallied around their beloved dad who was critically ill in Wellington’s intensive care unit for 10 weeks before he was well enough to be transferred to the Burwood Spinal Unit in Christchurch, where he stayed for 10 months of rehabilitation.
“It was lucky, though, because I was studying at Canterbury at the time, so I could be there too,” Alice says, grateful she could be by her dad’s side.
Remembering those days, David says it took him some time to get his head around the injury. While he longed to get back to Otaki, he knew he was getting the very best specialist care.
When he was able to return home, it definitely helped that the Pritchards – with wife Jacqui, their four adult children and seven grandchildren − are a very tight-knit family.
“We all live within an hour of Mum and Dad’s house, and we’re all fully involved in looking after Dad,” Alice tells. Everyone pitches in with David’s physical and medical needs. Alice’s older brother Sam made sure his new house was wheelchair-accessible and the family took him on a tiki tour to his favourite Mitre 10.
However, it wasn’t until Alice attended a friend’s wedding in January this year that her desire to do more for her father grew stronger.
“Instead of my friend having her first dance with her husband, she had it with her dad. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. And at the time, it made me realise I’d never have that,” she says. “So I sat there and I thought to myself, ‘What am I going to do about it?’”
As it turns out, The CatWalk Spinal Cord Injury Trust was looking for participants to run in a team on their behalf at the
NYC Marathon to raise money. Alice leapt at the opportunity.
“Now I find myself getting up early to train, I have a personal trainer who keeps me on my toes and I’m already up to running 10 kilometres,” she says. “It’s hard work, but
I just get out there and think how Dad probably wishes every minute that he could run, even in the dark when it’s raining and cold.
“Running a marathon will be a challenge for me as I’m not a runner, but when I compare it to what Dad’s been and going through, then it makes it seem pretty easy,” explains Alice.
The cause she is running for is the greatest motivator for her and her family. “This money will go to further research for clinical trials [of stem cell transplants], which gives us so much hope, and they say they are close!” she says. “We really want to help find a cure. And if no benefits come out of it for us, maybe the stem cell transplants and regeneration or other breakthroughs will help other people with spinal cord injuries.”
David will be following every step of his daughter’s journey via the internet back in Otaki.
“I’m so proud,” he says, as he and Alice laugh while explaining how they challenge each other to keep up with their training – Alice with her runs and David on his specially-modified bike. Nothing holds him back.
“My advice to people is to do things now,” he says sharing one of his biggest lessons. “If there is that trip you want to do, do it now.”