MATTHEW Kuhne awoke from neck surgery last night and
before he said a word began doing arm curls.
The motorcycle ace's family had to tell the talented
19-year-old to take it easy after the metal traction
device which had kept him immobilised since last
Monday was finally removed.
"I haven't spoken to the doctors yet, but everything
seems to have gone well," said Kuhne's relieved
father, John.
"He's woken up, they've taken the tube out of his
mouth and there is nothing supporting his neck. When
he opened his eyes he started to do arm curls."
At 8.15am yesterday, Kuhne's face lit up when
told of |
 John and Lisa Kuhne, parents of motorcycle accident victim Matt Kuhne, speak about Matt's surgery at the Princess Alexandra Hospital yesterday
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the news he would finally be wheeled to an
operating theatre -- five days after he was supposed
to undergo surgery for a broken neck which left him
paralysed from the chest down.
The Gold Coast motorcycle ace -- the youngest
Australian to compete in a world motorcycle grand
prix -- was injured while testing at Queensland
Raceway last week.
Yesterday, Kuhne told his parents to have some Tim
Tams, Mars Bar slices and milk ready so he could
finally get some food into his slight 54kg frame.
His parents John and Lisa told of their relief their
son's long road to rehabilitation had begun.
"The operation is the beginning of the start of his
journey basically. You have to start somewhere and
today we've started it for sure," said Mr Kuhne.
During the delicate six-hour operation doctors
removed a section of bone from the teenager's hip
and placed it in his neck.
The C5, C6 and C7 sections of his neck were fused
with wire, stabilising the area to allow the
motorcycle star to sit up and begin rehabilitation.
It took Queensland Health five days and a media
campaign headed by The Gold Coast Bulletin, before
Premier Peter Beattie stepped in and demanded the
surgery take place.
At 7am the couple arrived at the Princess Alexandra
Hospital, saw the their son before Mr Kuhne
cautiously went up to the Intensive Care Unit.
"I went up there because I knew they make their
decisions at 8 o'clock about who gets the beds and
who doesn't," said Mr Kuhne.
Like previous days there were beds available, it was
a only a question of whether there was enough nurses
and if Kuhne had moved up the priority list.
"About 8.15am one of the nurses came out and said
'we've got good news, Matthew's got a bed'. By the
time I walked out of there and got on the phone to
ring my wife there was already nurses down there to
start prep-ping (for surgery)."
Mr Kuhne said while the doctors and nurses at the PA
Hospital had been brilliant the state of the health
system was terrible.
"Truthfully, you hear about it and think, 'is it
really that bad?'. Once you experience it you do
realise it is that bad."
When told of the news the motorcycle ace, who was
wasting away and refused to talk to anyone, was
elated.
"As soon as they started prep-ping him for surgery
he started chatting again," said Mr Kuhne.
"He said 'better get those biscuits ready for me,
I'm starving'."
Kuhne is now fully focused on his rehabilitation.
"He is asking if there is more he can do and he says
'you better put some energy drinks in that drip of
mine', so that's how keen he is."
"If it's up to Matthew he won't spend much time here
at all. Right now we've just got to do it one step
at a time."
Mrs Kuhne said she was proud of how her son was
handling the difficult situation.
"Yeah I am, I've let go a few times. Don't ever say
you can't to Matthew, that's the worst thing, he'll
show you how he can," he said. "Basically, he wants
to get in the gym and plenty of energy bars and
energy drinks.
Mr Kuhne said he hoped bringing the family's
situation to the public domain would help others.
"Even if it opens an extra bed a day then at least
that's one extra operation that's going through ...
at least it's a step forward.
Mr Kuhne reiterated there were nursing agencies
which had had ICU nurses available.
"I got some telephone numbers to call some
agencies," he said.
"The first one I rang they said 'that's not a
problem'. I said 'can I book it?' and they said
'look it has to come through the hospital'. I went
back up to ICU and they said weren't aware of the
agency, they use two other agencies.
He did have one message for Premier Peter Beattie.
"Thanks very much Peter Beattie for making a call,"
he said.
Which, after a tumultuous week, was in the end all
it took to get a bright young man the operation he
desperately needed.
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Published by www.news.com.au
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