Twenty years ago, Peter was involved in a serious car accident that could have ended his life. He remembers being trapped in his car, his leg at a crazy angle. His femur in his left leg had been smashed.
But Peter survived that car crash, and while it took some time – he recovered well, apart from some lasting issues with the muscles in one leg. He knew that at some point he would need surgery.
This is why, in July 2020, when Peter was called to schedule a meeting with his doctor after a series of blood tests – Peter thought that he was finally getting the surgery he needed on his leg.
“And that’s why I was alone when I drove up for that appointment. I didn’t have my wife with me because I didn’t think anything was wrong,” says Peter.
But there was something wrong. Peter knew that he had hip and back issues. He was often in pain, which he had become used to. But he was not expecting to be told that he had myeloma.
“It’s hard to put into words how it felt. But I can tell you one thing – I do this crossword every day in my local paper. Every single day. I brought it with me to pass time during my appointment. Well…”
Peter turns to his side and stares at the floor. His voice goes a little wobbly as he says,
“The only time I’ve not been able to do the puzzle was that day.”
Suddenly, his life was turned upside down and he entered a new world of chemotherapy, doctor appointments, treatments and even a stem cell transplant.
His wife and family joined him at his side, as well as Natasha from LBC.
“At some point, I don’t remember when, but Natasha visited me in hospital, just to checkin and see how I was doing. And I really appreciated that. I went to her support meetings.”
After his transplant, Peter started to recover slowly. He was told that regaining his mobility would be a long and gradual process. “So I set myself goals, and I said, right – I’m gonna do this. I never wanted to climb Mount Everest or swim across the Cook Strait. I just wanted to do the things I enjoy.”
One of those things that he enjoys is lawn bowls. “I told Natasha this funny story about when I started back at the club and I met one of the new guys who looked like a good player. So I contacted him, and it turned out that he had been living with leukaemia for years.”
“Then we found a third guy to join us, and I said to him – ‘Hey, this is like a rugby scrum. We’re the two props – one’s got leukaemia, one’s got myeloma – so as the hooker in the middle, you’ve got to keep us together!’”
“And he looked at me and said he’s going through treatment for bowel cancer.”
Peter laughs as he says, “So it was the three of us old cancer survivors! We played together, and you know what, we almost won the club champs.”
Peter has learned to be kinder to himself this time around. “You’ve got expectations about how you perform, and when something like this happens, it shakes you about a bit. And you hope to bounce back. But you’re also getting older.”
“Back when I was a young rugby player, the local newspaper picked up this photo of me at a game and called me the hairiest rugby player in New Zealand.”
“So when I had my treatment, my hair started falling out. And one of the people at the hospital helped me to cut my hair. I said to this woman – at one point, I was one of the hairiest men in New Zealand. And look at the remnants on the floor now!”
This was not the only memory that has come back full circle. After the car accident in 2000, Peter’s attitude toward life changed.
“I was determined that I would go to this conference in Christchurch. And my boss knew how important it was to me – it was my goal. I had to use a crutch at the airport, and needed to be wheel-chaired to my flights, but I got there.”
And similarly to his blood cancer journey, Peter is again determined to get his energy back.
“One of my daughters noticed that I had improved recently, and it wasn’t until I thought about it that I thought, yes I have! It’s the small things – the way you roll in bed, the way you might reach out for something. I was quite limited back then.”
“But, I’ve been to this movie before – I’ve had to rebuild myself in the past and I’m doing it again now. I know I can do it.”