Soldier battles back fromTaliban fray

CONFIDENT: Whangarei soldier Dion Taka is still recovering from major abdominal, leg and pelvic injuries sustained in Afghanistan during the Taliban attack which killed two members of his military unit. PHOTO/NZ ARMY

Whangarei soldier Dion Taka is determined to walk again after a Taliban attack in Afghanistan left him with major abdominal, leg and pelvic injuries.

Two members of his military unit were killed in the ambush.

Soon after his return to New Zealand, and the attack 18 months ago, Private Taka got himself out of a wheelchair and on crutches, struggling to regain muscle function in his damaged right leg.

Speaking by telephone from his home at Burnham military camp 28km south of Christchurch yesterday, he told the Advocate he was feeling confident about the future thanks to the support of his wife, Frances, the skill of his doctors and the care of the army.

Six New Zealand soldiers were on patrol in Bamyan province in August 2012 when the ambush happened. Private Taka declined to discuss the attack, but media reports at the time said Lance Corporal Rory Malone had dragged their commanding officer, Major Craig Wilson, to safety before he was killed while trying to help another comrade.

Lance Corporal Pralli Durrer also didn't survive the firefight.

Doctors striving to stop the bleeding from bullet wounds that had shattered Private Taka's pelvis into 10 pieces nearly lost him twice on the operating table.

From Afghanistan, he was flown to Germany, where his wife joined him while he had medical treatment before being flown to Washington, where - in a rare move since the Vietnam War - the New Zealand Government organised a plane fitted for medical transfers to fly him home.

While spending three months in Burnham Hospital, he was joined by his parents, Christine and Joseph Taka, of Whangarei, whom the army arranged to stay with him while he was "learning to walk again". The army has also provided Private Taka with a house at the camp with wheelchair ramps.

He said a big breakthrough came about seven months ago when he received a spinal cord stimulator implant, which reduced the agonising pain he had been experiencing during his recovery.

He was particularly pleased the implant had enabled him to almost eliminate use of the painkillers OxyNorm and OxyContin - trade names for the prescription drug Oxycodone, dubbed "hillbilly heroin", which Whangarei addiction specialist Dr Alistair Dunn wants under tighter control in Northland.

"I suffer from a condition known as corsalga or chronic regional pain syndrome," Private Taka said.

"Nerves damaged in my spine send pain messages to my brain even though there is no longer injury present.

"But next month I'm heading for the United States with two other soldiers to compete in Marines Paralympics' shooting and wheelchair basketball events.

"I'm now 70 per cent back to normal."

Private Taka is still undergoing rehabilitation, but is now back on his feet, going to the gym, working on light duties and active with his wife and their three children.