Ali Nicolson faces a long road to recovery after a grass kart crash. Photo / Supplied
A keen grass kart driver and father-of-two with a “massive heart of gold” is facing a life-changing challenge after a speedway crash paralysed him from the waist down.
“What started as a great day’s racing turned into a living nightmare,” a Givealittle set up for his recovery said.
The racing at the Moore Park Speedway in Melton took a sudden turn for Christchurch man, Ali Nicolson, 46, on Sunday, April 26.
His mother, Lyn Owen, told the Herald her son’s crash happened right in front of her during what was the first time she had gone to watch him race.
His mother said Nicolson loved racing and would build his own karts to travel to meets.
Owen said the races were normally in a grass paddock, so there was “no real danger of being in a serious accident because there’s nothing to hit”.
“I’d never watched him do this before. Then I thought, ‘Oh, I’m going to go today,’ because he asked me, ‘Come watch, Mum — it’ll be awesome.’ And I said, ‘Oh, I’d love to.’”
After never having broken a bone in his life, he was thrown out of his kart after hitting a wall.
The crash left him with multiple serious injuries.
“He hit the wall and landed in front of me,“ Owen said.
She said she ran to the fence and saw people starting to put up blue tarpaulins so onlookers couldn’t see.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, it’s my son’... I just wanted to be right by him,” she said.
Owen said she sprinted to the other side of the track and pleaded to get access to her son.
“They gave me a hi-vis, and I just ran across the track as fast as I could and got to him,” she said.
She said her son had a compound fracture on his ankle, but was screaming about the “horrific pain” that was going through his back.
Owen said he was asking to put his legs down while he was lying on the track, but “his legs were down on the ground already, so he obviously couldn’t feel them then,” she said.
Her son spent a few days in ICU in an induced coma and was later taken to the orthopedic trauma ward at Christchurch Hospital.
Nicolson is being transferred to Burwood Hospital this afternoon, where he is set to begin specialist spinal rehabilitation.
“They have said to us it was a very severe injury and he highly likely won’t walk again,” Owen said.
Owen said her son had a “good heart” and even managed to organise a present for her birthday yesterday, despite everything that was going on.
She said the crash strengthened the bond the pair already shared.
“I brought him up on my own really, and we’re very close, I hate to say this, but this has brought us even closer ... you know, scratching his back and feeding him, brushing his teeth,” she said.
Owen said her son was the kind of guy that everyone liked, and that he had spent years volunteering in Westport, teaching children how to safely use helmets and seatbelts when racing.
Owen said his community has rallied around him and even spoke about pimping out his wheelchair.
She said her son was a digger driver, and his boss was incredibly supportive, saying he would make a hydraulic device to help get him into the digger so that he could return to work one day.
The Christchurch Grass Kart Club said Nicolson, who was a member, had no control over the outcome of the “freak incident”.
“He’s not just part of the club, he’s a mate, a Dad, son, and an all-round good bugger.
“Our thoughts are with Ali and his family, but also with the other Christchurch Grass Kart Club members who were sharing the track at the time,” the club wrote.
“He’s a tough bugger, but there’s a long road ahead for Ali and his family,” it wrote.
Comments under the Givealittle described Nicolson as having a “massive heart of gold”.
Funds will be used for financial support, a change of living arrangement, transport and anything else for his long journey of recovery.