Shayne Johnson had no idea how close he was to losing his son Keegan as the boy was carried into a rescue helicopter, impaled on a bamboo stick.
Keegan, then aged 4, had been playing on a swing while holding the stick at his daycare centre when he swung forward and impaled himself.
The 1m long piece of bamboo entered his groin and lodged itself deep into his body.
"Seeing a little kid that young, impaled, it was horrific," says Shayne. "But one thing I learned is you don't know how strong you can be until you face something like that. He was looking at us and I thought to myself, 'don't cry or it will frighten him'."
Shayne flew with Keegan in the helicopter to Starship Children's Hospital while his former partner — Keegan's mum — Kirsty Law drove to the hospital.
Keegan Johnson holds the bamboo stick that he was impaled on in 2018 with string marking how deep it entered his body. Photo / Supplied
At Starship, Shayne sat with a sedated Keegan while a team decided on the best course of action. The surgery was a huge success and miraculously by the very next day, Keegan was eating ice cream and walking.
Kirsty stayed with Keegan nightly and Shayne visited daily for the 10 days that he stayed at Starship.
This experience in July 2018 changed Shayne's life.
"You see the kids, most of them don't have any hair, and you look at the parents there and they're absolutely drained, that's where they live and you know some of the kids in there aren't going to come out.
"It's a very humbling experience."
Shayne says he always wanted to do something to fundraise for Ronald McDonald House where they were able to stay, and now he's found the challenge that scares him.
He will run 74km starting at 10am on March 4, running four miles - 6.14km - every four hours for 48 hours day and night.
A fundraising page on Ronald McDonald House has put him number 4 on the national leaderboard for individuals raising funds, and his goal is to raise $10,000.
Already he's raised $2700.
Shayne, who played rugby for Tairua, got the idea for the run from international tough guy David Goggins. He has only had three weeks' training and is happy to have friends and supporters join him on individual runs for company.
"It scares the hell out of me," says Shayne. "I've always wanted to do a challenge that's seriously going to push me to breaking point and this definitely will. From Keegan's accident, I wanted to give back to the hospital, because we were among the lucky ones.
"If you think you've got things tough, go spend a night in Starship."
Keegan is now a happy student doing well at Tairua School and was this week signing up at the Tairua Rugby and Sports Club muster.
