Making most of opportunities

Nicko Mannix says he has been given a second chance at life.

And now that he is on a roll, he wants to share his "struggles and successes".

Mr Mannix, who lives in Wanaka, is a tetraplegic who one still might find bungy jumping, paragliding or, in the winter, sit-skiing.

But the thrill-seeking Mr Mannix is now also involved in public speaking - recently at a few corporate events, but also at Southland Boys' High School, in Invercargill, which he attended, and St Kevin's College, in Oamaru.

"I'm in a wheelchair, that's me," he says.

But it has not always been that way.

On New Year's Eve, 2014, while living across the Ditch his life changed.

He was working in mines, earning good money, "living a very fast lifestyle".

"I ended up at a party, wrong place, wrong time, wrong people, you know?" Mr Mannix says.

"I was at a party with a friend, and I was behind this ute that was revving excessively, and I went to stand up off the ground. And as I stood up off the ground, they reversed over me. And then ... they came back over me for a second time. Basically, just to leave me there to die.

"A lady came and gave me a hand. I was still conscious, and while the ambulance was coming, she got my phone out and rang my parents and I said my goodbyes. It was pretty hectic."

He suffered seven fractured vertebrae, collapsed lungs, multiple broken bones and fell into a coma.

Mr Mannix spent a month in intensive care fighting for his life.

He could not move or breathe on his own.

He then spent 10 months in Burwood Hospital, in Christchurch.

He was told he would never be able to breathe on his own and that he would be paralysed from the neck down.

Since then he has been working hard, and pushing limits.

"When I woke up out of my coma, I just decided I was going to fight - and come back.

"And give back to the people around me, because I was just getting so much help from my friends, family and random people in the community.

"This is what I think I'm here for now, just to help people."

He suffers from chronic pain, but he pushes himself to do more, to get outside, and to lead a normal life.

"The hardest thing about this whole thing isn't about being in a chair, or being different, it's about overcoming things and actually finding out who I am," he says.

"And the chronic pain and overcoming that."

But his message is pretty simple: perseverance, resilience and positivity.

"I just keep seeing a brighter future for myself and others around me," Mr Mannix says.

"No matter what happens in life, there are falls, and you basically kind of ... get up.

"There is an answer to everything."