{"id":196682,"date":"2025-12-22T17:14:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T17:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/196682\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T17:14:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T17:14:08","slug":"mt-ruapehu-ski-accident-kiwi-teen-charlie-lanes-road-to-recovery-to-continue-into-new-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/196682\/","title":{"rendered":"Mt Ruapehu ski accident: Kiwi teen Charlie Lane\u2019s road to recovery to continue into new year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cHe\u2019s still got a long way to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe teen fell about eight metres off a cliff while skiing at Whakapapa in October. Photo \/ Emily Lane<\/p>\n

Doctors expect Charlie will need to use a wheelchair for at least a year. While his spinal fractures are healing well, Lane said the most serious concerns lay with his legs.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth his lower legs are absolutely shattered … he\u2019s going to have long-term issues with those,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Charlie\u2019s left leg remains in a cast and he wears a moon boot on his right. He continues to experience extreme pain and nerve sensitivity.<\/p>\n

His central nervous system has also been affected, resulting in daily episodes of severe nerve pain that have been difficult to manage.<\/p>\n

Lane said the prolonged hospital stay had taken a toll mentally as well as physically, but Charlie had kept his spirits up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a little bit of an up and down journey for him. He\u2019s mostly pretty good … but there are definitely moments where it\u2019s a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA group of Star Wars characters recently met up with Charlie in hospital as part of a children’s ward visit. Photo \/ Emily Lane<\/p>\n

Lane, who moved to \u014camaru from the Auckland region late last year, said they have been unable to return south due to the lack of wheelchair accessibility at home and limited support there.<\/p>\n

Once Charlie is discharged, they plan to stay with relatives in Auckland while rehabilitation begins and longer-term arrangements are made.<\/p>\n

Despite the challenges ahead, Lane said her son\u2019s dream of becoming a ski medic<\/a> hadn\u2019t faded.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s very keen to get back to Ruapehu<\/a> in winter,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be getting him back in a sit ski and see how that goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lane also acknowledged the support from the Ruapehu snow sports community, as well as Waikato Hospital staff. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want to give a special mention to the orthopaedics team and the plastic surgery team at Waikato Hospital, and also the nursing team, for taking such good care of Charlie.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a few weeks still to go in hospital, he\u2019s been granted day leave for Christmas, which they plan to spend in Auckland with wider family.<\/p>\n

A Givealittle page<\/a> raising funds for his recovery and care is continuing to garner donations.<\/p>\n

Tom Rose is an Auckland-based journalist who covers breaking news, specialising in lifestyle, entertainment and travel. He joined the Herald in 2023.<\/p>\n

Sign up to The Daily H<\/a>, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cHe\u2019s still got a long way to go.\u201d The teen fell about eight metres off a cliff while…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1081,74,11425,15308,12636,803,13982,9881,38403,2241,10933,296,194,3950,10048,117,111,43,139,1536,69,56268,1881,1314,51972,25290,121517,5163,10706,61,51975,379],"class_list":["post-196682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-accident","tag-after","tag-badly","tag-charlie","tag-cliff","tag-continue","tag-continues","tag-facing","tag-falling","tag-hospital","tag-injured","tag-into","tag-kiwi","tag-lanes","tag-mt","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-next","tag-nz","tag-prolonged","tag-recovery","tag-road","tag-ruapehu","tag-ski","tag-skier","tag-teen","tag-teenage","tag-to","tag-wheelchair","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}