After surviving a 110,000-volt electric shock that left him with burns to 60% of his body, Tauranga’s Troy Hall knows how quickly life can change. In this opinion piece, he shares his recovery journey and why New Zealanders need to take burns risks more seriously as ACC records its highest number of burns-related injury claims in five years.

I was 22 when I went up on a cherry picker in an avocado orchard in Tauranga and made a decision that changed my life forever. It was late in the day.

I wanted to make a phone call and there was no reception down below, so I took the machine up. At the time, it felt like nothing more than an impulsive choice – one of those little decisions you make without thinking too hard. But that moment put me in the path of 110,000-volt power lines, and in an instant, everything I knew about my life was gone.

The theory is that the power lines ran through the trees and the trees touched my machine, creating an arc flash. It had been raining. I was on my phone. The electricity went through me twice. I don’t remember the first strike at all – I just blacked out. My father saw the whole thing.

He said the first blast sounded like lightning hitting the ground, echoing through the orchard. By the time he raced towards me, the second strike had hit and my whole body was on fire. The first strike killed me. The second one brought me back. Even now, that feels surreal to say.

People sometimes ask what it felt like. During the accident itself, I felt nothing. It was numbness, blackout, then darkness. But the recovery – that was where the pain really began. Months later, once I came off the heavy medication, the nerve pain arrived in full force.

There aren’t many words for it. On a scale of one to 10, it felt like a thousand. It was relentless. For a long time, I couldn’t walk properly. I couldn’t feed myself. I couldn’t change myself. The most basic parts of being human, the things most of us never think twice about, had to be relearned from scratch.

When I look back now, what stands out most is how long and dark that road was. The first 11 years were brutally hard. There’s no point sugarcoating that. I wanted to give up more times than I can count.

The biggest turning point came three years after the accident, when I became a dad. My daughter gave me a reason to stay. She became my purpose, my anchor, my biggest achievement.

She is 12 now, and I can say without hesitation that she has kept me alive. If I have learned anything, it is that sometimes survival begins with finding just one thing to hold on to. For me, that was my girl.

Troy Hall with his daughter Neveah, who he describes as "my purpose, my anchor, my biggest achievement".

These days, the word I come back to again and again is gratitude. It took me a long time to get there. For years, I was focused only on what I had lost. But slowly I began to understand that gratitude was not about pretending everything was fine. It was about recognising what remained.

I can walk again. I can feed myself. I can change myself. I can live independently. I can be there for my daughter. Those things are not small. They are everything. Gratitude doesn’t erase the pain, but it gives me somewhere to put my focus other than the darkness.

I’ve worked my way back into life in ways I once thought were impossible. I’m playing sport again – touch, flag football, even masters rugby league. My body doesn’t always agree with me, but I love being back out there. I’ve also found purpose in speaking to others, sharing my story at conferences and workplaces, especially with young people starting out in dangerous jobs.

If there is one thing I tell them, it is this: slow down. Think. Don’t take a single moment for granted. One impulsive decision can change your life forever. I know that because it changed mine. My accident was preventable.

I have also learned how important it is to reach out. For too long, I tried to do everything on my own. It took me years before I connected properly with other burn survivors, and I wish I had done it sooner. There is something powerful about being in a room with people who understand without you having to explain.

That connection matters. So does support. ACC has been there for me from the very beginning – through treatment, psychologists, prosthetic support and all the practical things that help you rebuild a life. In a country like New Zealand, we are lucky to have that support, and I don’t take it lightly.

I still have hard days. I still battle negativity. Recovery is not a straight line, and it does not end just because the scars fade. But I am here. I survived something that should have killed me.

I fought my way through pain that felt unbearable. I built a life where I can stand on my own two feet, live independently, be a father, play sport and give something back.

Fifteen years on, I know my story is not really about the day I was electrocuted in an orchard. It is about everything that came after – the choice, day by day, to keep going.

ACC – burns claims by the numbers

In 2025, ACC accepted more than 20,000 burns-related injury claims, which came at a cost of more than $40 million to help people recover.

The age group with the highest number of burns-related injuries was 0-4 years (2570), ahead of 35-39 (1495) and 30-34 (1476).

The regions with the highest number of burns-related injury claims in 2025 were Auckland (7046), Canterbury (2448), Waikato (2195) and Wellington (1573).

-Content supplied by ACC