‘Grateful beyond words’

• Published date: 21 October 2021
• Publication title: Mountain Scene

When you ask him how he is today, you can hear the smile on his face as he replies, ‘‘I’m not just happy, I’m great’’.

Scene featured Wijenayake’s story in January, almost two years after a man he didn’t know delivered a king hit-style punch to his head in Queenstown’s Cow Lane.

After first stumbling head-first into a wall, he weaved into the centre of the lane before he collapsed with a fractured skull in March, 2019.

He spent about six months in hospital, including four weeks in a coma in intensive care, underwent a craniotomy to relieve pressure on his brain, and then a second surgery to have plates inserted in his skull and a bone flap replaced.

The 36-year-old missed the birth of his first child, Yathula, in Sri Lanka, and has since spent just one precious month with his wife and little boy, who’ll turn two on Monday.

And the whole time, he’s been fighting to stay in New Zealand.

While he had passed an international English language testing system assessment before his injury, the window to use it to apply for residency had passed by the time he recovered.

Unable to work full-time as a result of his injury, his sponsorship was cancelled.

Wijenayake, who moved to Christchurch earlier this year, says he’s grateful beyond words for the support and assistance he’s received since Scene’s article.

As a result, he’s been helped by an immigration adviser, a lawyer, and...