Miracle Man - Dave Currie

 

FEBRUARY 17 2012 - UPDATE- EXERT FROM THE NELSON WEEKLY NEWSPAPER TUESDAY FEBRUARY 14 2012

'I bloody did it' - back from the dead and now doing the Buller half.

Three years ago David Currie was a dead man, literally.

Today he is revelling in completing the Buller half marathon, a goal he gave himself to keep fit and to continue to get better after a massive stroke killed him, before a miraculous recovery soon after.  David' remarkable story of waking up days after he was taken off life support featured in Nelson Weekly last May and he has been training since then to walk the Buller half marathon.

He has been walking from his Stoke home to Nelson and Richmond and he already completed three half marathons or 21.09 kilometres, before Saturday's effort.  His stroke still makes it difficult for him to walk easily but with a walking stick he is able to get through the kilometres.  A support crew including his brother Mark and daughter Nicole went along to help him get over the line in a time of 4 hours 10 minutes, 10 minutes quicker than his previous fastest.  He says he is stoked to have finished the challenge.  "It feels good, I bloody hate walking so I'd like to give it up now, but I don't think my wife will let me.  I'm not much of a swimmer, I'd sink, so this is about all I've got to stop from getting fat," he joked.

David was also raising money for the Heart Foundation and as of yesterday had so far raised a total of $1700 from donations.  Local businessmen Hamish Fletcher, Mark Currie and Tony Jemmett, from David's work Opus, also contributed towards shoes, equipment and clothing for David's walk.  To make a donation to David's fundraiser visit www.heartracer.co.nz/davidcurrie

 

Each day 16 New Zealanders die as a result of coronary heart disease. That's one person every 90 minutes. And many of these deaths are premature and preventable.

What's this got to do with Dave Currie? Well, he was one of them! Thankfully Nelson has a world class cardiac unit and he was in good hands, being cared for by Dr Andrew Hamer, the leader of the National Cardiac Clinical Network.

Check out his story at http://nelsonweekly.co.nz 

Cardiovascular disease (heart, stroke & blood vessel disease) is the single leading cause of death in New Zealand. It causes 40 percent of all deaths annually in our country - making it more deadly than all forms of cancer.

The nature of who is affected by it is changing. New research shows that young adults in their 20s and 30s are being admitted to hospital for heart attacks more than ever before, and that this age group is dying at a faster rate than people of the same age in previous generations. Much of this change is due to unhealthy lifestyles - poor eating habits, lack of physical activity and being a smoker.

But the good news is that many risk factors for heart disease are preventable, if people make healthy lifestyle choices.  Dave has signed up as a Heart Racer to raise money to support the Heart Foundation.

After being approached by Dave with his amazing story, Hamish Fletcher Lawyers got on board with a sponsorship donation to Dave for expenses towards his 'Miracle walk".    The funds he raises in his walk will be helping the Heart Foundation continue its vital work in research, cardiac rehabilitation, education programmes and resources.

http://www.heartracer.co.nz/davidcurrie/

.