Cricket-former New Zealand all-rounder Cairns faces long road to recovery after spinal cord stroke | WKZO | All Kalamazoo

(Reuters) Former New Zealand’s versatile Chris Cairns said he has a long way to go after recovering from a spinal stroke that left his leg paralyzed after heart surgery last month.

Cairns, 51, was originally operated on in Canberra for aortic surgery before being transferred to follow-up care in Sydney.

It’s been a big 6 weeks. On August 4, I underwent type A aortic surgery, a rare but serious condition. I needed emergency surgery, and various complications followed. Cairns wrote on Twitter on Sunday.

Eventually, I suffered a spinal stroke. A long way to go, but I am grateful to be here.

Cairns, a former captain of the New Zealand One-Day International Team, played 215 ODIs and 62 tests from 1989-2006.

(Reported by Dhruv Munjal in Bengaluru; edited by Ed Osmond)