On July 3, 2024, Ellingham was riding in the cycle lane on Napier’s Marine Parade, preparing for a race, when the car beside him turned left into Ellingham’s bike, sending him flying.
“I was riding along, basically, I could see ‘there’s the Sound Shell, TNG building, Six Sisters, and bang’,” Ellingham said.
Strat Ellingham crosses the finish line at the 2019 TDU Challenge Ride in Adelaide.
“Then I’m looking up at two paramedics in an ambulance with a whole lot of police and I thought, this is not good.
“And the second thought was, I’m alive, that is good.”
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Unable to move, Ellingham was sent via helicopter from Napier to Wellington, then on to Christchurch Hospital for around 36 hours’ worth of investigations, X-rays, MRIs and CT scans. Then the doctors operated on him.
“The big damage was to my C3 and C4 [vertebrae], that was badly fractured,” he said.
The person who drove into Ellingham was charged with careless or inconsiderate vehicle operation causing injury, ordered to pay $10,000 reparation and disqualified from driving for six months.
Doctors removed Ellingham’s disc fragments and replaced it with hip bone fragments and inserted bolts and plates and put him in a neck brace.
Ellingham then spent five days in ICU and a further seven days in the trauma ward before being transferred to the Burwood Hospital Spinal Unit, a unit Ellingham described as “brilliant”.
“The nurses, doctors, physios, everyone at Burwood is very supportive and encouraging,” he said.
When he arrived at Burwood, Ellingham had no movement available to him, but after spending five months at the hospital, he relearned how to walk in the hospital’s pool, and how to sit and to stand, thanks to physio work and getting in the gym on specialised equipment.
After five months at Burwood, Ellingham returned to his home in Napier in December 2024 with much better movement available to him, but he still had a way to go.
“I didn’t know how badly damaged I’d be, because I think I naively said in August, ‘I think I’ll need some assistance when I get home’,” he said. “But it was good to be home.”
Ellingham said his wife and three children had been immensely helpful and supportive of his recovery journey, as well as his team of carers and his cycling friends Ben and Nat, who created “Strat-man” socks to raise funds for him while he was in Burwood.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.Strat Ellingham in his Napier home, standing on his own. Photo / Jack Riddell
Now rehabbing at the Hawke’s Bay Community Fitness Centre at Mitre 10 Park in Hastings, and at his home, Ellingham is moving in a positive direction and hitting his stride, walking 1.5km in the pool last week.
“It’s just one step at a time, really,” he said.
Last week, he bumped into one of the paramedics who helped him after his crash, and he thanked her for helping save his life.
Ellingham said anyone finding themselves in a similar position to him should have hope of recovery and be encouraged by others.
“With the support and the care that I’ve had, I’ve been able to improve.
“My friends have been unreal, my cycling friends coming to visit me so that’s been amazing and very encouraging.
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“But if I can help people find hope, that’s what it’s all about.”
Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and has worked in radio and media in Auckland, London, Berlin, and Napier.