Liam Olson was told a trampolining accident meant his foot would never be the same, now he’s running for charity
WHEN Liam Olson broke his ankle he thought life as he knew it was over.
After a wrong move on a trampoline with friends, Olson broke his talus bone, which controls the full function of the foot and ankle.
‘‘I was 25, in the best shape of my life, and all of a sudden that was just gone. In one instant, my life was turned completely upside down,’’ Olson said.
Now, two years later, he has recovered from his injury, and will be running the Round the Bays race in Auckland next Sunday to raise money for his favourite charity.
Olson, a competitive gymnast in his youth, had been showing his skills to friends at a trampoline park when it all went wrong. ‘‘I was doing a few tricks, but I hadn’t been on a trampoline for ages and my body was a bit different to when I was 14.’’
While jumping towards some
friends, his foot became caught in a metal bar, snapping when he fell forward. After getting out of surgery – during which the surgeon inserted screws and plates to repair the damage – Olson immediately knew it was bad.
The surgeon told him he would probably always feel pain in his ankle and may have trouble walking. His foot would never be the same, a grim prospect for the active young man, and one that weighed on Olson.
His mental health was severely affected by the prognosis. ‘‘When you’re young, you think you’re invincible, so it was hard to suddenly be faced with the reality that I couldn’t even take myself down the stairs. I was so insecure about who I really was. I’d lost my whole being of what makes me and I just completely shut down.’’
Adding to his anxiety, Olson, who had been living in the United States before the accident, thought he would lose his job and income. But ACC was able to fund his time off from work for recovery, as well as physiotherapy, hydrotherapy and gym work, and transport to and from his work and recoveryrelated appointments.
‘‘The labour laws over in America are very different and they don’t have anything like ACC. So, if you injure yourself, it may well be that your employer says, ‘Well, unfortunately we can’t keep you on’. So, I was still in the mindset of, ‘Oh no, that’s my income gone’. I was very grateful I was in New Zealand and that wasn’t the case.’’
Two years after the accident, Olson still feels pain and cannot flex his ankle to its full extent. However, after committing to his rehab, he has managed to return to competitive powerlifting.
Now, Olson is looking forward to taking part in the upcoming Round the Bays run in Auckland.
Despite being a powerlifter, Olson was never much of a runner, he said, so the 8.4km would be a real challenge. The training had been hard but he was looking forward to it, especially as he would be running to raise money for SPCA New Zealand, a charity close to his heart.
‘‘The more I [train] the better it feels. And it makes me feel a lot better because exercise is so good for the mind.’’