Charlie Simpson, 19, is recovering from a brain injury after he was involved in a motorbike crash on Ōtaki Beach on November 6, 2024. Photo / Supplied
Charlie Simpson, 19, is recovering from a brain injury after he was involved in a motorbike crash on Ōtaki Beach on November 6, 2024. Photo / Supplied
Charlie Simpson, 19, faces a difficult recovery from a traumatic brain injury after a motorbike crash.
A Givealittle page has been set up to support Charlie who is “a great Kiwi bloke”.
Police enquiries are ongoing and they are seeking witnesses to the crash.
Charlie Simpson, who loves farmwork, rugby, and volunteering in his community, is facing a tough recovery from a traumatic brain injury after a motorbike crash.
“It’s a parent’s worst nightmare”, Pru and Marc Simpson said of their 19-year-old son’s condition.
On November 6 on Ōtaki beach, Charlie hopped on a friend’s motorbike to have a turn. He wasn’t wearing a helmet.
As sirens blared across the small North Island town, a volunteer firefighter, who had experience as a paramedic, kept Charlie’s airway open to prevent further brain damage until other emergency services arrived.
Charlie was put in an induced coma and flown to Wellington Hospital.
He had suffered a traumatic brain injury, couldn’t breathe on his own, had a hole in his lung, broken his femur, thumb and rib and had 12 different lines and tubes put into him.
Charlie spent 13 days in Wellington Hospital's Intensive Care Unit. Photo / Supplied
A police spokesman said enquiries into the incident were ongoing.
“Police continue to appeal for witnesses of the crash to come forward and speak to us, as work to determine the full circumstances of the crash continues.”
Charlie’s parents Pru and Marc were in New York at the time of the incident.
They had spent two years saving up for the trip which coincided with their 20th wedding anniversary and the New York Marathon Pru had been training hard for.
They were woken early in the morning by a bang on their hotel room door before their world instantly changed.
Their phones, which had been on silent, were flooded with missed calls.
“It was terrifying. Absolutely gutwrenching”, Pru said.
Charlie, who loves rugby, with his dad Marc Simpson. Photo / Supplied
They cancelled their holiday plans and went to San Francisco to get on the next flight to New Zealand that night, only to find the plane had broken down.
They were also worried about their three teenage daughters at home trying to deal with “an incredibly traumatic situation thinking their brother wasn’t going to make it”, Pru said.
The couple eventually managed to get to Charlie’s bedside three days after the incident.
The family was confronted by doctors who said they needed to consider the type of life Charlie would want to lead and prepared them for a range of scenarios including the possibility he was brain-dead.
Charlie was in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit for 13 days.
After responding well to tests, his ventilation tube was removed and he was able to say he needed a drink.
“That was absolutely massive for us both”, Pru said.
The couple said it was a rollercoaster, taking two steps forward and one step backwards, like when Charlie contracted pneumonia from being on the mechanical ventilator.
Charlie is a volunteer at Land Search and Rescue New Zealand. Photo / Supplied
Charlie is currently awake for about five hours a day. Even learning to stand again is exhausting.
He gets confused about what month it is but most of the time he gets the year right.
His last memory is going on a tramp with one of his college friends which was about a month ago.
Charlie is possibly facing years of recovery but no one knows for sure what lies ahead because people experience serious brain injuries so differently.
“That’s what’s really tough- we can’t control or plan for the future because we don’t know what that future will look like”, Pru said.
Marc said the local community has rallied around them and that reflected how loved Charlie is.
“We’ve had people mowing our lawns and providing food. All sorts of things, It’s been amazing.”
Charlie is six-foot-four, weighs 120kg, has a mullet, and wears short shorts and gummies.
Marc said he is a gentle giant who is always willing to help people out.
“I know he‘s our son but lots of people have said the same thing.”
Charlie's last memory is going on a tramp with one of his college friends about a month ago. Photo / Supplied
Charlie won an award at college for completing more than a thousand hours of community service, he secured council funding for a community garden when he was just 14 years old and he is a Land Search and Rescue New Zealand volunteer.
Since leaving school, he has been doing farmwork and has found joy working outdoors in the bush and the hills.
Ōtaki MP Tim Costley said he first met Charlie when he was at Ōtaki College and described the Simpsons as a great community family.
“I was gutted to hear about Charlie’s accident. He is such a great Kiwi bloke.
“In fact, he’d just organised for me to go out with him and the Rural Worx team and learn to shear a sheep, which we would have been doing this week if he was well.”
Costley encouraged people to contribute to Charlie’s Givealittle page this Christmas if they were able to.
“My thoughts, prayers and best wishes are with Charlie and his whole family as they navigate the road to recovery.”
Marc anticipated the biggest challenge for Charlie would be his reduced capacity for the active lifestyle he once enjoyed.
It’s hoped Charlie will be transferred from the hospital to the ABI Rehabilitation centre in Porirua next week, where he is expected to remain until the new year.
Marc encouraged people on motorbikes to wear a helmet and to be careful.
“If the positive that comes out of this, apart from Charlie’s recovery, is that young men and young women just take the time to consider the context and the risk before doing things, that’s the big thing that we’d like to see.”
Anyone with information about the crash should contact police via 105, referencing file number 241107/0913.
Georgina Campbell is a Wellington-based reporter who has a particular interest in local government, transport, and seismic issues. She joined the Herald in 2019 after working as a broadcast journalist.
