Teen suddenly unable to walk
It took just 10 minutes to turn 17-year-old Jackson Torok’s life upside down. Almost three months to the day, he remains in Christchurch’s Burwood Hospital.
When the Palmerston North teenager woke on the morning of January 27, it felt like any other day. He got up, started his usual routine, said good morning to his mum and then the tingling in his legs began. All of a sudden he was on the floor, having lost all feeling in his body from the waist down. He was two weeks into his first full-time job as a data technician.
The diagnosis is transverse myelitis – a rare neurological condition caused by swelling of the spinal cord. Essentially, messages from his brain to his lower body are not getting through.
The cause is thought to be a virus, however doctors in New Zealand have been unable to figure out which one. His virus progression was sent to Australia, and is now at Oxford University in the UK, in the search for a cause. Jackson still cannot walk.
Tracy Torok, Jackson’s mum, told Stuff there were no warning signs, it just happened out of the blue. “He’s getting better, he’s like a baby learning to walk. The brain wants to walk, but he’s not getting the communication,” she said. “He’s been in Burwood since mid-February. There’s still four to five weeks to go until he can come home.
“To be a healthy 17-year-old, who just gained NCEA level 2, left school in 2023 and was already two weeks into his first full-time job, then this all happened, it is a lot to take in,” she said. “The prognosis is that it could be months/a year to get back to full mobility, with the chance of relapses. They have him on immunoglobulin therapy and steroids to try to stop any recurrence.”
Jackson undergoes physio two times a day with a walking frame, as well as standing exercises. Despite essentially learning how to walk again, he said it was getting easier by the day. In fact, when the whole incident took place he said he was “pretty calm” throughout.
Tracy said there was a massive loss in teenage independence when the condition struck – he got his licence two weeks prior, but only has access to a manual car which can’t be modified.
In Burwood, Jackson has been taught how to drive in a wheelchair-accessible automatic modified car.
Tracy said people in the spinal hostel at Burwood have all taken to cheering each other on, motivating and celebrating their own accomplishments.
Now, there was the matter of making their whare wheelchair-accessible. While there has been a little funding from Te Whatu Ora, the total cost is expected to be around $30,000.
Renovations include attachable ramps, and making their bathroom wheelchair-accessible to ensure Jackson can shower and use the toilet.
For Jackson, his mission now is straightforward: “I just want to start getting back to normal.”
A Givealittle has been set up.