Sergeant Lane Dempchy and Stephen Petty celebrated biking 3000km as part of Tour Aotearoa. Photo / Supplied
Sergeant Lane Dempchy and Stephen Petty celebrated biking 3000km as part of Tour Aotearoa. Photo / Supplied
As 2-year-old Amirah Najim-Phillips and her family made their way home to Wellington from a family holiday in June 2019, the driving actions of one individual changed their lives forever.
The family's car drove around a blind bend just south of Waiouru and collided head on with a car thatwas attempting to overtake a truck.
The crash left Amirah paralysed from the chest down and she is one of many New Zealanders with a critical respiratory health condition that could be fatal if she were to catch Covid-19.
Her dad, Hamed Najim, broke his femur and dislocated his hip in the crash, limiting his ability to work.
Her mum Daelyn Phillips and her sister Zahara were also in the car.
On February 22, he and his friend Stephen Petty were amongst 1000 people to join Tour Aotearoa, starting at Cape Reinga.
He said at first it started off as a bit of an adventure but he thought he might as well try to benefit someone on his journey.
It did not take him long to think of Amirah and how donations could benefit her life.
"I do come across other crashes where there are children involved, that was part of it, but a lot of it was around the fact they had done everything right but, despite that, the actions of one person on the road could turn their life upside down."
Dempchy and Petty made their way down the country through rugged off road trails, including the Bridge to Nowhere, all self-sufficient without a support car.
Sergeant Lane Dempchy with Amirah and her dad Hamed Najim and mum Daelyn Phillips. Photo / Supplied
They finished up in Bluff on March 14 and by that time 114 people had donated $7365 for Amirah through a Givealittle page.
"There were some really generous people. They really caught the essence of what I was trying to highlight - it could happen to any of us, and this poor little girl, I was trying to understand why, how is this fair, it's just not and people felt they could do something to ease that family's pain."
He said what Amirah and her family have to go through is a consequence of making bad decisions when driving and he wants to remind people of this.
On his way home from Tour Aotearoa, Dempchy was able to meet Amirah and her family at the Wellington ferry terminal to give them the good news about the donations.
He said Amirah currently has full use of her right hand and limited use of her left hand but this will improve in time.
Her dad has also made a full recovery and is almost ready to go back to work.
However, Dempchy said "she's now one of these vulnerable kids that, because of the lack of the diaphragm, when she gets the sniffles she can't cough".
He said the choices people make during the Covid-19 pandemic and not adhering to the restrictions puts added pressure on the health system.
"It's Amirah that will miss out because she needs the attention, she needs to be the one that has access to the hospital."
Dempchy was also able to gain a real sense of achievement to get from the top to the bottom of the country in 21 days.
On average he biked around 140km a day or about nine to10 hours of pedalling.
"It's something my kids can be proud of. I switched off from work for three weeks and it was a cool way to do it. It put me in a good headspace to be able to come back and do what needs to be done."
He said now is the time when people need to be kind and look after each other.
"That's sort of what I got to do, for my personal achievement was helping somebody else out. We've got a whole nation having to do that for each other now."
