Brendan Tourelle woke up in ICU in intense pain with no memory of what had happened.

The then-38-year-old from Auckland was renovating a shopfront in Mt Eden and was looping a rope around some scaffolding when the foot of his ladder slipped out from under him.

Tourelle hit his head on the wall and was knocked out. He fell 'like a sack of spuds” 6m onto the wing-mirror of a van below.

'The van broke my back, but it also broke my fall,” says the former tradie. 'The doctors said that if I had landed on my head, I would have been a goner.”

The nurse in ICU asked Tourelle: 'Do you know what happened?”, and he managed a shake of his head. She told him he had fractured his back between his T4 and T8 vertebrae and his spinal cord was damaged in two places.

'The whole area was pretty smashed up,” he says. 'At the time I was 38 and had four kids under the age of nine. I was scared and worried about how I would provide for them.”

He underwent surgery where two large rods were inserted into his spine. Tourelle spent two weeks in Auckland Hospital and three months in the Auckland Spinal Unit in Ōtara.

He remembers getting a visit from an ACC liaison officer who put him at ease. She said ACC would support him and his family.

'That was a huge weight off my shoulders with a young family to provide for.”

Tourelle says the Spinal Unit was a humbling place to be as he realised 'there were a lot of people who were far worse off than me”.

He was motivated to tick off his goals in his rehab so he could get back home to help his wife Tulip.

'I didn't dwell on my injury too much. My main goal was to not let my situation affect the kids. I wanted them to carry on and have a normal life.

'That first year was the hardest. Even though I was keeping a brave face for the kids, from time to time the frustrations would get the better of me. It was very hard to live with the realities of having a spinal injury.”

Photo: Simon Watts / BW Media.

He credits Tulip for having the patience of a saint. 'She helped me heal and got me back to a place where I could be at peace with my reality.”

Tourelle had worked in the trades - waterproofing and painting buildings – for 15 years.

He has reflected on that day – May 13, 1999 – many times. He should have insisted to the main contractor that he had someone hold the bottom of his ladder.

'I knew it was risky,” he says.

ACC accepts around 21,000 DIY injuries every year. The most common injury is to the back/spine (about 3900 claims) and about 3000 people hurt themselves by losing balance/personal control.

'You have got to stop and think. I had been in the trades since 1983 and up and down ladders the whole time. I didn't give it a second thought. It's easy to take those short cuts. One moment can have a lifelong consequence.”

At the time of the accident, Tourelle's family were a few weeks away from moving to Samoa to start a new life.

'That was devastating to see that dream gone.”

Brendan with his parents at Auckland Hospital following his surgery on his back.

Soon after Tourelle arrived home, Tourelle got back into work. He wanted to help others and hasn't stopped 24 years later.

He started at Spinal Support New Zealand (SSNZ) – formerly TASC (The Association of Spinal Concerns) - in 2000.

The following year he joined Parafed and was a liaison between the two charities. In November he will finish a five-year term as president of SSNZ.

Tourelle says his best achievement was helping set up a partnership between the NZ Spinal Trust and ACC to fund peer and whānau support around the country.

'There is nothing like lived experience,” he says.

Growing up, Tourelle's dad was a swimming coach, so he and his siblings learnt to swim at a young age. He fell in love with surfing, fishing, and anything to do with the sea.

Following his accident, he tried to get back into swimming, but it was too difficult with the rods in his back.

His swimming coach introduced him to Sailability Auckland – a charity that that helps people with disabilities to learn to sail - and it was the turning point.

He joined the committee in 2003 and has been the chairman since 2006.

'A lot of people come back onto the shore in tears of joy. It's a game-changing moment. They might be living in a power-chair and relying on someone else to do everything for them, but in our boats they are totally free, and they are in control.”

Tourelle has dedicated himself to helping others.

'I am proud to have given back to society in a reasonable amount. I wouldn't have been able to do that without ACC's support.”

He has sound advice for people who have sustained a life changing injury.

'Firstly, give yourself time to grieve so you come out of it with good mental health.

'And, if you get the chance to try something new. Give it a go. You don't know where that moment will lead, and you don't know when that opportunity will come again.”