Liam's story: From struggling to walk to running Round the Bays

Liam Olson had just woken up after emergency surgery on his ankle.

Still dazed and groggy from a heady mix of sedatives and painkillers, he couldn’t quite comprehend what he was hearing.

“The surgeon had a really grim prospect for me,” he remembers.

“He said I’d probably always feel pain in my ankle, may have trouble walking and my foot would never be the same.

“I was 25, in the best shape of my life, and all of a sudden that was just gone.”

Luckily, ACC was on hand to support Liam and help get him back to leading a full life.

A keen powerlifter, he is now competing in the strength sport again and has another goal in his sights – taking part in one of New Zealand’s most iconic running events, Round the Bays Auckland.

“In one instant, my life was turned completely upside down,” he says.

“It was devastating but the support of ACC made such a difference. It was the main factor in my recovery – there’s no way I’d be where I am now without that.”

‘Have a hmmm’ before you jump in

Bouncing into a bone break

An active relaxer, Liam was having fun with friends at a trampoline park when disaster struck two years ago.

The Wellington resident had been a competitive trampolinist in his youth, so was relishing the chance to get back on the mat and show off his skills.

“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,” he laughs.

“My friends were on the other side of the trampoline park and I jumped towards them, but I over calculated and my foot got caught in the metal bar of the trampoline. So when I fell forward my foot didn’t move and it snapped.”

Liam had suffered a broken talus, which is also known as the ankle bone.

It’s a key bone for full function of your foot and ankle, meaning Liam’s mobility was now under serious threat.

“It only took about eight minutes for the ambulance to arrive but it’s funny because it just felt so slow,” he says.

“You start thinking about so many things, you’re thinking, ‘How am I going to get up the stairs at home? Will I have to use crutches? Do I even know how to use crutches?’ Your mind just races at a thousand miles an hour.”

Facing an uncertain future

Liam was rushed to hospital and soon had surgery to repair the damage. Five screws and plates were put into his ankle but it was clear there were going to be long-lasting effects.

“The surgeon explained that it was a very serious injury and there would be some complications,” he says.

“It took a while for it to sink in but my first thought was that I’d lose my job. And a lot of the things I do revolve around being active. I felt very defeated.”

Liam, now 27, wasn’t aware of how supportive ACC would be as he had recently spent time living in the United States.

“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.”

We provided Liam with financial compensation, as well as taking care of his physiotherapy, hydrotherapy and gym work. We also arranged transport to and from his work and recovery-related appointments.

“I spent eight weeks in a cast but I was able to recover to the point where, around five months later, I could walk a bit without my moon boot,” says Liam, who was working for the Ministry of Social Development at the time and now works in human resources.

“Obviously, I still had a limp but I had gained my life back in a sense and could see the progress in my recovery – every week it would improve and I just kept pushing it. That’s when I think my mindset shifted.”

Emerging from a dark place

It wasn’t just a sense of physical wellbeing that Liam needed to return to. His mental health had also suffered as he struggled to come to terms with his loss of mobility.

“It got to the point where I lost relationships because I was so preoccupied with myself and what I was going through,” he says.

“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.”

As well as the support from ACC, it was Liam’s sheer determination that pulled him through.

“If you’re an active person, you just want to get back to normal so I pushed myself really hard,” he says.

“Not being able to do the things I used to do was my biggest fear – I refused to accept that. I think if you have the tools, then you can do it.”

The crowning glory of his recovery was returning to competitive powerlifting – which Liam did in style by winning his category in his first event back last year.

“That was just an amazing sense of happiness, it was actually on my birthday as well. I literally jumped for joy when I knew I had it in the bag.”

Taking on a new challenge

After overcoming the odds to tick off his powerlifting comeback, Liam is now relishing the prospect of lining up with over 34,000 participants at Round the Bays Auckland – New Zealand’s largest fun run.

Despite leading an active lifestyle, he was never much of a runner prior to his accident so is going into unchartered territory.

Completing the 8.4km course will prove a real challenge.

He is finding it difficult to run due to the lack of flexibility in his ankle and is still in pain every day.

“I’ve tried to train for it but I still can’t really run properly – I can do it but it’s hard,” he admits.

“But the more I do it the better it feels. And it makes me feel a lot better because exercise is so good for the mind.”

Liam has an added motivation as he is running to raise money for a cause close to his heart, SPCA New Zealand.

“I feel like there’s another hurdle I have to jump and it’s a really tall hurdle. But I’ve already jumped one and am determined to jump this next one, so I’m just going to go for it.”

To support Liam's cause and donate to SPCA please visit the donation page:

Support Liam Olson and donate to SPCA 

Challenge yourself with Round the Bays

New Zealand’s largest fun run – are you in?

There are many stunning and challenging running events taking place all over our beautiful motu this summer. But one of the jewels in the crown is Auckland’s famous Round the Bays – the country’s largest fun run.

The latest instalment of this iconic event take place on 5 March, you can be there in person to run or walk along the Waitematā Harbour’s picturesque coastline – or take part virtually from anywhere else in the world.

ACC is proudly partnering with Round the Bays to support participation and encourage everyone taking part to ‘Have a hmmm’ before they jump in.

‘Have a hmmm’ before you jump in