Trev's walk raises $30k for chopper
A Dannevirke man has raised more than $30,000 for the service he says helped save his life.
Trevor Moore was in critical condition when the Grassroots Trust Rescue Helicopter was called to pick him up from a remote location near Pahīatua.
It was May 2023 and Moore decided to give a friend a hand felling trees.
He was sorting out the traffic, but during a quiet moment took up the chainsaw.
It was on the first cut that part of the tree kicked back shattering every bone in Moore’s face. He could not remember the incident, but knew the chopper was his saving grace.
He was wearing a helmet, which doctors believed also saved his life, but his head was split open and both eye sockets were smashed. The chopper crew rushed Moore to Wellington Hospital where he spent two weeks in the intensive care unit.
He said he could not thank the crew enough for all they had done, so he walked 265km to show his appreciation.
He started his walk in Dannevirke on December 2 and five days later arrived at Wellington Hospital, raising $30,000 along the way. With his sidekick and walking companion Blaze, he proudly handed over the cheque to Grassroots staff on Tuesday.
“It was a buzz. It felt like I completed something.”
Moore said the most memorable part of his journey was the stories told to him by complete strangers. “I couldn’t believe the support ... and the response I got. People were stopping and talking to me, telling me their stories and that I was an inspiration.” That made him feel “really good”. Moore said his initial goal was to raise $15,000. “I actually wanted to raise $25,000, but thought that was unrealistic.
“When we got to $15,000 I thought this is amazing. Then we got to $20,000 and I thought this is crazy - let’s double it and go to $30,000.”
He believed his story resonated with others because he was out taking action and “not sitting around feeling sorry for myself”. “Doctors expected me to be dead ... and six months later I was actually doing something.”
Moore loved walking 5km each day but had never completed one so big.
“[The walk] actually went really well. I had one guy stop to give me a donation ... cars were backing up.”
He didn’t know exactly what the money would be spent on but said it was enough to cover “two other rescues”.
He was already thinking about other ways he could support the chopper and said he wanted to thank the public for all their support. “My son Daniel, too. If he wasn’t there I don’t know how I would have gone ... he was a big inspiration.”