“We’re all pretty resilient, all the things that have happened in my life set me up for the next part,” Barrell said.
“People say I’m super resilient but I’m not much different from anyone else.
“We all have strength in us when we’re faced with it.
“I pushed really hard to recover – I don’t believe I’d be where I am if I hadn’t pushed as hard as I did to get well.”
Barrell’s prowess on the rugby field led to his selection for Northland provincial teams, then as a professional representing the Blues, Chiefs and Auckland NPC.
He was 29 when he broke his neck during Auckland’s warm-up match against Northland in his hometown of Whangārei.
Refusing to be sidelined by the career-ending injury, he confronted his dyslexia and retrained for the New Zealand Police.
He was working as a constable when he began having a series of strokes.
“It turns out I’d had minor ones in college, weird stuff with my vision.
“[As an adult] my first one was while policing; I was eating a hamburger and I couldn’t eat properly on one side.
“Then it would come right and my balance would go. I had massive fatigue and couldn’t work out what it was.”
An MRI scan found a life-threatening tumour, and though he survived the nine-hour surgery, the procedure caused damage, leaving him semi-paralysed.
Then 32, he had to relearn how to balance, walk and feed himself.
He pushed hard – sometimes too hard he admits – and after a couple of years he was driving again.
Part of his recovery involved writing a book, Try, Try Again, published in 2009, and becoming a motivational speaker.
After five years he reinvented himself again, this time as an insurance and financial adviser for a major insurance company.
After several years he realised sitting at a desk all day “wasn’t my thing”, so established a fishing charter business which he loved.
“That was when Covid came along, and the writing was on the wall.
“It wasn’t a great time for running a business like that.”
Jason Barrell (centre) during his rugby career with brother Con and young son Troy.
Barrell retrained in real estate – now in his sixth year – because “I’ve always loved property”.
He recently joined the Ray White Whangārei sales team, along with his son Troy, who is the agency’s rural salesperson.
Ray White Whangārei director Vanessa McKenzie said Barrell had faced extraordinary challenges with a “quiet achiever attitude” that was truly inspiring.
“Jason is a man of enormous character and warmth.
“In real estate, resilience is everything, and Jason has it in spades.”
Barrell said his experiences taught him that getting on with life is a choice.
“There’s always a way forward,” he said.
“You can use setbacks to achieve more or give up, it’s up to you, but I know which one is more exciting.
“I could have gone the wrong way a few times.
“But people respect you if you’re genuinely trying to get better.”
Jenny Ling is a senior journalist at the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering human interest stories, along with finance, roading, and social issues.