Injured man takes a determined step

Kevin McGarry spent a year in Middlemore Hospital after his accident. Photo / Doug Sherring

A farmhand who lost both legs in a horrific accident fulfilled a three-year goal to walk off the plane when he returned home to Ireland this week.

Kevin McGarry, 23, was trapped under a burning motorbike for 30 minutes after crashing into an electric fence on a Waikato farm in August 2007.

Desperately scrabbling to keep his torso away from the intense flames, Kevin drifted in and out of consciousness, until another farmhand found him and called for help. He woke to find his legs had been amputated above the knees to save his life and he had severe burns to 45 per cent of his body.

The former Gaelic football player, in New Zealand on a working holiday, was determined to return home walking.

"I'm going to be walking home. I'm not going to be wheeled off the plane," he told the Herald on Sunday in 2007.

From Ireland yesterday McGarry said it was emotional when he walked through the arrival gates at Dublin Airport to see his friends and family waiting for him after four years.

He featured on Irish TV channel RTE's high-rating The Late, Late Show on Friday night.

"I'm finally back home again, walking. It was a goal I had been working towards and to realise it is very exciting," he said.

"Everyone was pretty happy to see me. You don't realise how much you miss people. It's been an unusual four years," he said.

McGarry spent a year in Middlemore Hospital's National Burns Centre recovering. He spent two months in intensive care and had 35 skin grafts and operations.

He lived in Mt Eden and worked at the Auckland Regional Council public transport division for 18 months. His final operation was in May and six weeks ago he was fitted with prosthetic limbs.

"He said from the start that he'd only come home when he could walk," McGarry's brother Enda told the Irish Independent.

A crowd of family and friends greeted him at Dublin Airport, and on his return to his home town Kilnamanagh in County Roscommon he was greeted with street banners and a queue of locals eager to see him.

"The reason I came home was nothing to do with New Zealand," McGarry said. "I just wanted to come back and see everyone.

"My older brothers Keith and Enda came out straight away and stayed with me most of the first year. My younger brother Donal was out last year and my mum and dad [Mattie and Geraldine] came out for my 21st birthday and two other birthdays after that."

Geraldine McGarry said having her son come home was "a day I thought I would never see".

"We were told before he would be coming home last Christmas and the Christmas before, but it was only eight weeks ago that he was officially discharged from hospital.

"Then just a week ago he phoned to tell us he was coming home," she said.

Despite his ordeal, Kevin McGarry still loves farming and hopes to study agriculture.

He said he would miss Auckland and would love to return. "I really loved Auckland. It was brilliant and I have made friends for life there."