Sometimes life is indeed measured one step at a time. Ask 30-year-old Troy Campbell.
The Whanganui dairy worker was on his way to the shops on his first day off from a new job on a Reporoa farm – when his car was involved in a T-Bone smash at 100km/hr with another car last October.
In the way of these things, it was his first day off from the new job and the elderly couple in the other car walked away almost unscathed. Troy had broken ribs, punctured lungs, broken neck, ruptured spleen and a severe head injury. He was also in an induced coma for two weeks.
It meant he had to undergo a long rehabilitation process to re-train his brain into mastering everyday tasks from brushing his teeth, walking and talking.
He's out of rehab now and at home in Whanganui but the long process of getting back to where he once was continues.
"Yeah, it very much is one step at a time," he says. "It's been a tough time – I lost my car and my job because you can't be a farmer without a spleen".
Lack of a spleen means the risk of serious infection is heightened as the spleen produces white blood cell to fight infections.
Now, after four months of rehab and painstakingly learning to walk again in a walker, Troy is back home – and finds his daily swimming exercises are a simple joy: "I used to be a very independent person but now I need a lot of help. So swimming is the only time I feel normal again.
"After all, it doesn't matter if you fall over in the water."
Accident compensation provides care workers from about 7am to 5pm daily and Troy's mum also helps look after him – a fact for which he is grateful but which he is looking to change by getting better and making even more progress.
"No one else is going to do it for you," he says, "so you might as well just get on and do it.
"I also can't quite believe that there are no dairy farmers out there without a spleen. I know farmers get a bit dirty when they are working and that heightens the risk of infection – but there must be someone somewhere out there who has beaten that."
Troy's determination to get better has seen him used in a recent TV commercial by ASB, chosen because he was a true life example of someone literally taking one step at a time to get ahead.
"It was a long four months in Auckland and sometimes I did feel like it wasn't going to happen. But I took it a bit at a time and I am still doing that; I am still learning to walk again.
"You know, it was a bit unlucky what happened but I am lucky to be here now…I nearly died at the scene, apparently, and they didn't expect me to come out of the coma – so I am keeping on going."