Truckie in limbo after meningitis
An unexpected illness has proven to be a major setback for a Taranaki truckie who has been hit with a three-year driving stand down.
In June, Stefan Topless became seriously unwell and ended up in hospital with viral meningitis.
‘‘I had been feeling a bit fluey a few days prior but didn’t think much of it,’’ he said.
On the morning of June 8, he collapsed on the floor and had a seizure, waking to find two ambulance staff standing over him and his concerned flatmates looking on.
‘‘There was blood all down me as I had been chewing on my tongue,’’ he recalled.
He spent two nights in hospital, where he had two more seizures, and then spent a fortnight on the couch recovering from what doctors believed was a bout of viral meningitis.
Viral meningitis is an uncommon complication of viral illnesses which inflames the membranes over the brain and spinal cord, causing headaches, fever, sensitivity to light and neck stiffness. It was during his recovery that his battle to get answers about his ability to drive again started.
Prior to getting sick, Topless drove a truck and trailer unit for a fertiliser company, where he has been employed for five and a half years.
Topless said he was informed getting back behind the wheel after suffering seizures might pose a problem but he never thought it would take so long to find out when he could drive again.
After being seen by a neurol- ogist and passing a battery of tests, which he paid $1200 for, Topless sent the information to the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for its chief medical adviser to review. The 28-year-old spent the next three months in limbo waiting on a response, often talking on the phone for hours with NZTA staff trying to get some clarity on the issue.
‘‘They were just saying they’re busy and things take time,’’ he said of NZTA’s response. ‘‘It just kind of sucks as you don’t know where you stand,’’ he said.
After 30 working days went by with no answers, Topless got in touch with New Plymouth MP Jonathan Young to see if he could intervene on his behalf.
And on Tuesday, he finally got an answer.
Although he could get his class 1 and Roller, Tracks and Wheels endorsement back by December, and only once his GP confirmed he remained in good health and was seizure-free, Topless would not be allowed to drive heavy vehicles for at least three years, after being given a stand-down period regarding the commercial classes of his licence.
So it continues to be a waiting game for Topless as he gets a lift to and from work, relies on friends and family for rides to appointments and also used a pushbike to get around. ‘‘Just in general, life without a licence isn’t really a lot of fun,’’ he said.
Despite not being able to drive, Topless was thankful his employer supported him to return to work. ‘‘I’ve had to come back and operate a shovel basically,’’ he said. For two years Michael Herlihy’s Red Band gumboots have sat empty.
But on Wednesday Herlihy’s sister Rochelle added the boots to 605 other pairs of shoes laid out at New Plymouth’s Huatoki Plaza to recognise those lost to suicide between June 2015 and June 2016.
Herlihy’s death came as a big shock to Rochelle and their family as nobody saw it coming, she said.
‘‘He was fun, bubbly and cheeky and had the biggest smile a lot of the time,’’ Rochelle said.
‘‘We didn’t know much about suicide so we couldn’t identify it. Just nobody talked about it.’’
Michael, a shearer by trade, enjoyed success regionally and nationally, even winning an award for best quality at the 2016 Golden Shears.
‘‘He had a real knack for it and he would ring myself or mum to gloat about his results,’’ Rochelle said.
‘‘We were really close and we’d often confide in each other.’’
Rochelle said Michael and her five brothers had planned on attempting a world record for an eight hour lamb shearing record ten days prior to his death, something Michael had thought up himself.
She said it had been a good way for the brothers to bond, and while most of the other brothers were farmers and not shearers they didn’t want to get shown up by their younger brother so had all been in training for the record attempt.
‘‘Michael would give all the brothers stick about being the better shearer,’’ she said.
The Herlihy’s was one story among hundreds represented by the shoes, sandals, jandals and boots laid out to remember the dead.
The suicide prevention event was organised by YesWeCare.nz – a new health funding coalition which consists of nongovernmental organisations, community groups and unions that represent health sector workers – and was one of many happening across the country this month.
Jane Stevens, who lost her son Nicky to suicide two years ago, is travelling to the events across the North Island, with the aim of helping ‘‘break the stigma attached to suicide’’.
The movement will head to Wellington in the lead up to International Suicide Prevention Day on September 10, when bereaved families from across the country will place all the shoes on Parliament steps.
Stevens said the suicide problem was only getting worse and in the last three years suicide rates had only continued increasing.
‘‘We need to have a hard look at ourselves as a country as to why this is such a problem.
‘‘The more we speak about it the better.’’ 0800 543 354 (available 24/7)
0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO, available 24/7)
(06) 3555 906 (Palmerston North and Levin)
0800 376 633 0800 543 754 (available 24/7) 0800 942 8787 (1pm to 11pm)
757 (available 24/7)
0800 111
0800 726 666 (available 24/7)
If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.