Family friends are now rallying around Charlie Lane and his mother, Emily Lane, while the teenager faces surgery and an unknown length of stay in an unfamiliar North Island city.
The 13-year-old broke both his legs and back in an almost 8m fall and doctors estimated he would be in a wheelchair for at least a year.
Family friend Julianne Morris, of Āwhitu in Auckland, said Charlie’s passion was skiing, and it was sad he was injured doing something he loved so much.
‘‘He loves to ski,’’ Ms Morris said.
After the accident, Charlie was intiially taken to Rotorua Hospital but had since been taken to Waikato Hospital in Hamilton.
‘‘Emily and Charlie are not from Waikato and they don’t know a lot of people from around there — it’s such a terrible, terrible, time and it's made harder being so far from home.’’
Ms Morris has set up a Givealittle page to help the family.
‘‘Emily is a single mum and she doesn't have anybody else to help her . . . and she never takes help from anybody.
‘‘She is the most genuine and most honest person I've ever met."
Ms Lane recently bought her first home in Oamaru and they were in the North Island for a ‘‘tiki tour’’ when Charlie was injured.
Givealittle funds would go towards supporting the Lane’s travel costs, household bills, daily expenses while far from home, and ongoing support such as making the home suitable for wheelchair use once back in Oamaru.
