Leading Wairarapa barrister Ken Daniels made a welcome return to his workplace yesterday humbled by the support he has had during his three-month battle with a rare illness.
Mr Daniels is still on crutches and gets about in a wheelchair but is slowly recovering from the hugely-debilitating, and potentially-crippling, Guillain-Barre Syndrome.
He
had to be helped upstairs to the Masterton office he vacated suddenly at the end of June when he was struck down with GBS but once there took comfort in sorting through the papers that had amassed on his desk and ribbing staff over what an easy life they had in his absence.
Mr Daniels said he is "getting stronger all the time" and hopes are high he will make a complete recovery.
He said he had been staggered by the support received during his 2? months in hospital and weeks of rehabilitation, which is ongoing.
Not only had he received visitors, phone calls and letters but also cards wishing him a speedy recovery.
Some had come from those he had represented in court proceedings.
Mr Daniels said the newspaper publicity given to his plight, and to the disease itself, had helped to establish contact between people in the Wellington and Wairarapa districts who had suffered from GBS.
"I was at a movie the other day and a woman who I didn't know, but who recognised me, came up to talk to me.
"It turned out she had contracted GBS about six months ago."
Guillain-Barre Syndrome strikes with incredible speed, paralysing limbs.
It can be life-threatening and is considered rare although Wairarapa was mysteriously struck with a high incidence of the disease in the first half of this year.
