Wheelchair rugby giant overcomes tough times

Tim Johnson’s life changed forever the day after his 19th birthday.

New Zealand’s 126th Paralympian and wheelchair rugby legend was left a tetraplegic after a car accident.

Now 43, he says he’d tell a younger version of himself that, despite the hardships that day put in his way, life has worked out much as he planned it would. “Hopefully that 15-year-old would come to the conclusion that I’ve still done what I wanted to do . . . it has just been a bit different.”

In an office in the Manukau branch of the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC), where he works as a co-ordinator, Johnson described the days following his accident. After a week or two in the Burwood Spinal Unit, he was still unable to wiggle his toes, and the thought came to him: “I’m stuffed. This is not going to change.”

He went through a cycle of grief “pretty quickly”. He remembers deliberating whether life was still worth living, “but it was only for half a day”. After that, he just wanted to challenge himself, whether it was lifting a onekilogram weight or, later, his own bodyweight. “I was trying to challenge myself and others that I could do as much as I could.”

He returned to finish his Bachelor of Electrical Engineering at Canterbury University, later on completing his masters in the same subject (he also squeezed in a teaching qualification between university stints). That desire to challenge himself drew him, also, into the orbit of wheelchair rugby. He was introduced to the sport while still in the spinal unit.

It felt instantly familiar, a throwback to his days playing hooker or flanker for the various rugby teams he had turned out for over the years. He first played for the Wheel Blacks in 1998. There were amazing highs along the way — a bronze medal at the Sydney 2000 Paralympics and, thrillingly, gold at Athens 2004.

He was later made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to disability sport.

● Paralympics New Zealand (PNZ) launches the first community event of The Celebration Project tonight at Auckland City Toyota in Auckland. This Project aims to officially recognise and celebrate the achievements of New Zealand’s 209 Paralympians since the New Zealand Paralympic team first competed at the Tel Aviv 1968 Paralympic Games.

This event is the first of 12 PNZ is staging throughout the country during the lead-up to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, in partnership with Toyota New Zealand, Lottery Grants Board and NZ Chamber of Commerce.