Normal life a blessing for Corey
titanium, he is able to do virtually anything with few limitations.
He gets frustrated with some things, such as opening jars, but is happy with the progress he has made so far.
One of the best parts is being able to play fight with his son, he said.
Midway through this year, he re-sat his driver’s license.
Enable NZ granted Corey Swensson $12,000 to get a vehicle to help him get to work on his own.
Wife Rochelle Swensson admits she was a bit scared to sit in the passenger’s seat.
But he’s OK now and has his independence back, his wife said.
‘‘It’s hard work and positive thinking that’s got him here.’’
But now there are plenty of signs that Swensson is getting better, she said.
‘‘He still drive me mental, drives me nuts. ‘‘Typical husband. ‘‘His hand doesn’t work, but that’s nothing,’’ she said.
Swensson is still limited slightly on the left side of his body, walks with a limp and can grip slightly with his left hand.
It has been a turbulent experience for the family, who have a daughter and young son.
Rochelle Swensson said: ‘‘The little fella is the little fella, sucked it all up. He said ‘that’s dad, his arm doesn’t work anymore’.
‘‘If I look back ... the doctors said he [was] going to be a complete vegetable.’’
But now, their plans for the future are simple: ‘‘We’ll get old,’’ she said. Rather than tossing money into a bucket to help Syrian refugees, a Palmerston North couple are travelling to Greece to help at the coalface.
Steve and Lynn Gill have had enough of seeing refugees in the news, so have decided to spend a month on the island of Lesvos.
The couple have had concerns over the refugee crisis for a long time, but like many, the picture of 3-year-old Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi, lying dead on a Turkish beach, hit home.
‘‘I wept over that picture,’’ Steve Gill said.
‘‘It’s easy for us to sit here in