Marathon effort towards recovery

• Published date: 01 August 2024
• Author: Jimmy Ellingham and Phil Pennington of RNZ
• Publication title: Guardian, The

Myles Dieming’s recovery from the late-October fall was hampered by severe blood clots that weren’t responding to treatment, and he could barely walk

But almost straight after a ground breaking operation to remove the clots, he was back on his feet.

The 60-year-old’s ordeal began when he was at work the day of the rugby world cup final.

“I’m a telecommunications technician. I was working on a 12 metre monopole. We were installing a new pole,” he told RNZ.

“I really have no memory of what happened. Basically, I have a blank from there completely until I woke up in ICU.

“Something went wrong. The subsequent investigations found one of the pole steps rotated but, obviously, I made a mistake as well.”

Dieming fell from the top of the pole. He landed on a small strip of grass, narrowly avoiding the hard concrete surrounding it.

He was choppered to Whanganui Hospital and from there flown to Wellington in a life flight.

His flight from Whanganui took off just moments before the city’s airport closed for the evening.

This avoided a trip by road to Palmerston North, which Dieming may not have survived. Even...