Rugby community rallies after player's 'freak accident'

Maciu Vosa broke his neck in a freak on-field accident. Now his club is determined to raise the funds needed to get him home to his family.

Maciu Vosa has vowed to continue his rehabilitation Source: SBS

The rugby union community in Melbourne is rallying behind a Fijian-born player who sustained a severe spinal injury during a match.

Maciu Vosa had been playing rugby for most of his 34 years and had sustained his fair share of injuries, ranging from broken noses to torn knee ligaments. But during a standard ruck and maul with his team the Harlequins last March, he received an injury that would change his life.

"This was just a freak accident, it was no one's fault. Everyone was caught up in the ruck and I was caught underneath," Maciu says.

The accident broke his neck.

Maciu's injuries require ongoing care Source: SBS

"Maciu's described as being a C4 quadriplegic, which means he has good movement of his shoulders and some motion in his right arm but none in his hands," says Dr Andrew Nunn, director of Austin Health's Victorian Spinal Cord Service.

After months of rehabilitation Maciu has regained some useful movement in his right arm, but requires substantial ongoing care. Maciu's biggest motivation in his daily rehabilitation sessions at Austin Health’s Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Centre is his daughter.

"She tells me, 'Daddy, when your feet are walking again, I want you to take me to school and take me to the park'. I said, 'I promise, I will do that. I will try so hard in rehab to do everything'," Maciu says.

Doctor Nunn says the transition from rehab centre to home can be expensive, with patients like Maciu requiring home modification, equipment like hoists and electronic wheelchairs and specially designed vehicles.

Costs can reach up to $500,000 a year.

"The cost for a quadriplegic - and that's a lower quadriplegic - is $10 million for a life time. It's a very large task to reorganise your home and family life to accommodate the care required," says Doctor Nunn.

The rugby community has come out in support of Maciu Source: SBS

The costs are coming as a shock to Maciu's wife Kylie Vosa.

"I had no idea that a wheelchair could cost as much as two brand new small cars and they replace them every five years," she says.

Enter the rugby community.

Chair of the Harlequins Rugby Club, Brock Parker, spearheaded a fund-raising campaign to help pay for Maciu's ongoing care. The cause has gained support from the Melbourne Rebels Super Rugby franchise, the Fijian rugby community and Maciu's fellow Harlequins.

"We look after our own, especially down here in Victoria where it isn't the strongest code by any means, so everyone got behind it really quickly," says Parker.

So far they've raised over $200,000, spreading awareness through their red hot chilli challenge, in which participants eat a chilli and nominate others to do the same and donate to Maciu's cause.

And they're not done yet.

"House modifications can be hundreds of thousands of dollars, car modifications can be a couple 100,000, too, and it all starts adding up. He'll need carers 24/7. He needs specially built chairs and all sorts of things and they're all very pricey. We have a target as a club of raising a million dollars," says Harlequins Club Captain Peter Dawson.

The community is providing a level of support that Kylie Vosa never expected.

"Former rugby players who heard about Maciu's plight got in touch via social media. That's the brotherhood of rugby. It's a term I've often heard bandied about the club that I've never understood until now."

Maciu Vosa remains a rugby player at heart and says he's determined to keep the line moving inch by inch.

"Even now, I can feed myself and I'm really proud lifting up a fork to put food in my mouth and holding a drink and putting it to my mouth."