Bay of Plenty man who lost leg in farming accident now helping amputees

Bay of Plenty man Matthew Bryson lost his leg in a “horrific” accident on his family farm after he was pulled into a piece of machinery nearly 10 years ago. The pain was indescribable, he says, as he recalls “screaming for my life”. His job now involves supporting New Zealand’s amputee community and organising events for disabled people, including a free trail running event in Rotorua today. Megan Wilson reports.

Matthew Bryson remembers everything about the “ horrific, traumatic accident” that took his leg in June 2014.

Bryson, then aged 30, was working on his family farm in Edgecumbe near Whakatāne when he got “pulled into a grain auger”.

“I was standing on a safety guard and then it just pulled me in and I couldn’t get out.

“It ripped off my foot, it munched my leg.”

Bryson said he didn’t know what had happened until he was free from the machine.

“I propped myself up and then I looked down and all I saw was my tibia bone.

“There was no foot, I don’t recall seeing any blood, any muscle... and that’s when I freaked out.”

Bryson said a colleague found him after hearing him scream.

“I didn’t pass out, I was awake, I was alert, I knew exactly what was going on.

“When I was being munched by the auger, I can’t even describe to anyone how painful that was. Like the pain went through my organs, like, screaming for my life.”

Bryson was taken to Whakatāne Hospital, where he spent one week.

“I think they put me to sleep and then I woke up out of surgery and I was just so thankful to be alive.”

Learning to live with a prosthetic leg

Bryson said he got his first prosthetic leg two months after the accident but it took a long time to get used to.

The main challenge was “a socket that was fitting right” while rehabilitation and physiotherapy were “a lot of work and effort”.

“There were times [when] things weren’t going well and I literally just wanted to throw my leg out the window.”

Bryson said he returned to work on the family farm nine months later.

“I could’ve walked away... But I said to myself, ‘I need to go back and if it doesn’t work out, I can hold my head up high and say well, at least I tried’.”

Peke Waihanga Artificial Limb Service peer support and events co-ordinator Matthew Bryson (right) and American professional trail runner and disability advocate Zachary Friedley. Photo / Andrew Warner

Almost 10 years on, Bryson said he still gets phantom pain.

“It feels like there’s a knife being jabbed in the side of my foot, my big toe’s throbbing, pins and needles, sharp pain and it’s very sporadic when I get it.

“Because my accident was so horrific, honestly, the phantom pain that I get, it’s not at the same level, right, so I just put up with it.”

Bryson became the fulltime national peer support and events co-ordinator for Peke Waihanga Artificial Limb Service in December 2019.

Through his work, he met American professional trail runner and disability advocate Zachary Friedley last year.

Californian runner born without leg in Rotorua for event

Friedley told the Rotorua Daily Post he was born without his right leg from above the knee.

He had his first prosthetic fitted at age 1 and had “30 or 40″ prostheses fitted as he grew up.

“As I got older like in high school, coaches treated me differently in sports programmes. I had to work two or three times harder just to make a team.”

In 2018, Friedley travelled to India, which he said changed his perception of the world and where he found “a new appreciation for being alive and having a body”.

“I’ve always wanted to work the corporate ladder and maybe be a CEO one day,” he says.

His trip inspired him to instead establish a not-for-profit charity and start trail running.

“Instead of dollar signs, let’s impact human lives,” Friedley says.

In 2018, he founded the Mendocino Movement Project, of which Born to Adapt is a project.

Born to Adapt hosts adaptive trail events in America. Friedley travelled from Mendocino, California to Rotorua for the inaugural event in New Zealand.

Friedley said he travelled the world as a professional runner.

“When I’m in these places, I try to find people like Matthew that we can maybe open up some connections and do some of the non-profit work there.”

A free trail running event for all abilities

Bryson and Friedley have organised a free community trail running event on Saturday, which welcomes disabled and non-disabled athletes of all abilities to run on Rotorua’s redwood trails.

The trails include a wheelchair-accessible loop, a 5km loop and multiple options for shorter-distance runs and ability levels.

Registration is free and spaces are limited. More information can be found on the Born to Adapt website.

Megan Wilson is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.