Accident douses dream to fight fires

Losing a limb has dramatically changed the life of Waikite Valley dairy farmer, mother and motorbike lover Karen Robinson.

Accepted into the New Zealand Fire Service and due to start physical training last weekend, the 35-year-old is instead confined to Rotorua Hospital where she is learning how to live life as an amputee.

When her motorbike and a car collided on Fenton St two weeks ago her left ankle was so seriously injured the leg had to be removed from the knee down.

The surgery has forced her career on to the backburner and leaves her with new challenges to face.

Motorbike crazy since her teenage years, Mrs Robinson sold her bike eight years ago to concentrate on raising her five children: Mariah, 12, Riana, 10, Kandin, 8, Janelle, 7, and Corbin, 5.

With husband Brent a sharemilker, she was also doing regular relief milking.

Four months ago she bought a 650cc Suzuki bike, informing her husband she was taking time out during school hours to ride it.

"It's the dream bike. I've clocked up a few kilometres between home and Wellington and the Wairarapa lately. I was having withdrawals after eight years' break. I had a lot to make up," she said.

She is determined that won't change. Her bike is being converted to allow Mrs Robinson to ride it once her artificial leg has been fitted.

"You can't keep me off a bike. The freedom is so exhilarating. I have this spiritual connection with my motorbike. It's good for relieving stress. There is nothing like riding the [corners]," she said.

While the physical wounds are mending well, she is still wondering if she could have minimised her injuries.

On the day of the crash she slipped on ordinary shoes and rode to Rotorua to drop off a couple of library books and register her bike.

"It was just a quick trip into town. I'll be forever wondering if I'd been wearing my bike boots if I might have saved my leg," she said.

Mr Robinson disagrees.

"The doctors are sure it would have made no difference," he told the Daily Post.

For now his wife is learning how to cope with life as she waits for a prosthesis to be fitted.

"I still have a lot of pain that I need to learn how to manage. The big thing is the [phantom] pain in my foot. I'm just impatient," she said.

As for returning to the milking shed - it's a big possibility.

"Brent said he's going to hoist me into the shed."

Mr Robinson said their children were slowly coming to terms with what had happened.

"It's tough at the moment. They are still in shock. We have tried to reassure them that we will still be able to go tramping and camping and do all the other things we used to do. They thought she would be in bed all the time," he said.

Mr Robinson said the couple were always aware of the dangers involved with riding motorbikes but never expected anything really bad to happen.

"You always think maybe a broken arm or leg - but not having to have a leg removed."

He said his wife was finding it difficult accepting that her dream of being a firefighter was over.

"That has been her goal for so long. She was devastated when she had to ring and tell them what happened. It's just going to be one day at a time for now."