Wanganui identity Ross Mitchell-Anyon has taken his first faltering steps a month after suffering head injuries in a fall.
His wife Bobbi told the Chronicle that Mr Mitchell-Anyon had walked a few steps unaided in the acute brain injury unit in Porirua, where he is rehabilitating.
Mrs Mitchell-Anyon said the potter and former district councillor had been in the rehab unit for a week and said staff were "thrilled" with his progress.
"He's certainly conscious a lot more of the time now," she said.
He had walked unaided for the first time on Tuesday, but the the effort left him exhausted.
"We were trying to get him into this wheelchair contraption to move him, but he refused to get into it. He wanted to walk, so he just stood up.
"About four of us were around him, but he simply stepped off down the hall. He didn't go too far, but it was a huge moment in his recovery."
Mrs Mitchell-Anyon said it was too early to say what the long-term prognosis for her husband was.
She was due to meet specialists for an update on his condition.
"But what the specialists are saying is that Ross is making the most amazing progress. It was a matter of his brain sort of re-joining itself.
"He's talking a lot more and coming up with complex sentences, even if they're not yet making a lot of sense. But the point is he's trying," she said.
She said some words he had used were coming out "very clearly".
"One of them is Chronicle and the others are 'wastewater treatment'."
Mrs Mitchell-Anyon has been at his bedside since he was taken to Wellington Hospital after he fell 12m while working in one of his properties on April 21.
"In light of the fall he had, the doctors say it's a miracle he survived.
Initially, they didn't think he was going to make it."
At this stage, she said, her husband's diet was still largely liquid.
"I know he'd dearly love to get into a big steak, but he's not ready for that just yet," she said.
Mrs Mitchell-Anyon said the support from family, friends and the community had been overwhelming.