Crash victim reunited with rugby player
Thaddeus McCarthy was never going to allow a near-fatal road accident 17 years ago to ruin his plan to become a successful businessman.
The tall, 27-year-old Wellingtonian has a master’s degree in management and is now working in the financial sector.
At the age of 11, McCarthy made the Sunday Star-Times front page when he spent four weeks in a coma after being hit by a fourwheel-drive during an Ohakune Primary School cross-country run.
He suffered head, chest and brain injuries.
But as he lay broken and beaten in a Wellington Hospital bed, his spirits were lifted by a visit from Wellington rugby players Inoke Afeaki, Shane Carter and Dion Waller.
The trio offered him hope and support in what was a bleak period in the youngster’s life.
This week, McCarthy and Waller were reunited, the pair exchanging warm handshakes and hugs as grown men.
Waller was shocked by the 27-year-old’s imposing 1.96 metre frame – a far cry from the fragile boy he met all those years ago.
‘‘He’s a good size to be a lock,’’ Waller said.’
Despite at the time not being able to talk, suffering partial paralysis and a major brain injury, McCarthy can still remember the visit.
Sports stars regularly visit sick children, but this visit still resonated with Waller, a one-test All Black.
‘‘The parents were distraught, obviously. . . knowing us, me, Inoke and Shane, we would’ve said words like ‘keep fighting, mate, you’re young, you’ve got good help, love.
‘‘We were just rugby players, but on days like that, I think we’re a bit more. ’’
McCarthy’s recovery was difficult. He spent time in an Auckland rehabilitation unit, learning to walk and carry out everyday tasks.
The events surrounding McCarthy’s horrific sparked several investigations.
Twenty students were on a school run on the Mangawhero Forest loop track the day of the accident.
Popping out from the bush track, McCarthy unwittingly ran directly into the vehicle’s path on what was an open road.
Despite pleas from McCarthy’s father, John, to prosecute the school for negligence, police found a lack of evidence.
The woman behind the wheel, believed to be from Wellington, was also cleared of any wrongdoing.
While McCarthy has never met her, he wanted her to know that he did not hold her responsible for the accident, all these years later.
Waller has even offered to take McCarthy and the woman driver out for dinner and a Hurricanes’ game at his expense.