Kiwi rugby player Joseph ‘Peanut’ Ritchie walks out of hospital after serious spinal injury

Joseph Ritchie (left) walks about of hospital, seven months after a spine injury playing rugby. Photo / 7News / Supplied

A Kiwi rugby player living in Perth has miraculously walked out of hospital, seven months after he fractured his spine in a rugby game and was feared to never walk again.

Joseph “Peanut” Ritchie broke his C4 and C3 vertebrae and suffered severe trauma to his spinal cord when a scrum collapsed in the first half of a match between Nedlands Rugby’s third grade team and Joondalup Brothers on June 21.

Ritchie, who relocated to Western Australia in 2009, was rushed to Royal Perth Hospital, where he had emergency surgery and was told there was a chance he may never walk again.

He was then transferred to another hospital to continue his recovery, but after months of hard work, he managed to walk out the doors on Friday, with a guard of honour from staff, teammates and family.

What made the occasion more special was that Ritchie got to walk out the doors alongside Lachie Glasfurd, who was recovering in the same rehab unit after he also suffered a spinal fracture in a separate incident.

“I’m looking forward to being at home, being with my 4 and 5-year-old sons, and then spending time with my older step-kids,” Ritchie told the West Australian.

“There have been weekends where I got to go home and every week has just got harder and harder to come back to hospital. I’m finally there, so I can’t wait to go home.”

While he has been discharged from hospital, there is still a long road for full recovery.

“We are delighted to share that Peanut has been discharged from hospital,” Nedlands Rugby Club said on Facebook.

“The grit and determination he has shown is truly inspiring and we are behind him as he continues his rehabilitation as an outpatient.”

Ritchie’s parents were there for the occasion in what was an emotional moment, and his dad, David, felt he would eventually walk again one day.

“The prognosis was touch-and-go, but he always told me when he first started talking, ‘I’m going to walk out of here Dad’,” David Ritchie told the West Australian.

“I believed him as he’s always had a stubborn, strong-willed personality. It’s just going to be good to see him back with his kids. He mostly misses his boys.”

Ritchie was a former student at St Patrick’s Silverstream College and played rugby for Upper Hutt Rams before relocating.

A Givealittle page was set up after the injury and raised over $40,000 with donations from both New Zealand and Australia.

Ben Francis is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers breaking sports news.