Former New Zealand cricketer Chris Cairns, who is recovering from a complicated heart surgery, has said that an inspirational poster pinned by his daughter inside the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in Sydney had helped him through his prolonged stay in hospital.
The 51-year-old star all-rounder was in critical condition after suffering complications following a major heart surgery in Sydney. Cairns had suffered an aortic dissection and had to be transferred to Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital on life support earlier this month from Canberra.
Aortic dissection is a serious medical condition in which a tear happens in the inner layer of the body's main artery (aorta). Only recently, Cairns was taken off life support and was able to communicate with his family.
In a heartfelt message posted on Instagram on Tuesday, the cricketing great wrote, "My 10-year-old daughter is a tennis player and when I woke up and came out of my haze in ICU, I saw that she had made me a poster and Mel (Cairns wife) stuck it on my wall.
During the life-saving emergency heart surgery Chris underwent in Sydney, he suffered a stroke in his spine. This resulted in paralysis in his legs. "As a result, he will be undertaking a significant rehabilitation process at a specialist spinal hospital in Australia," a statement by his lawyer Aaron Lloyd had said earlier, according to stuff.co.nz.
"Chris and his family remain appreciative of the immense public support as they deal with this difficult time. They also appreciate the way in which their privacy has been respected. Chris and his family now want to focus on spending time together where possible and making whatever progress they can in his recovery. We will update everyone when there is more news, but that is likely to be some time away," further said the statement.
Cairns, the son of former New Zealand all-rounder Lance Cairns, played 62 Tests, 215 ODIs, and two T20Is for New Zealand from 1989 to 2006. He amassed 3,320 runs at an average of 33.53 and scalped 218 wickets at an average of 29.40 in Test cricket.
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In ODIs, Cairns scored 4,950 runs at an average of 29.46 and took 201 wickets with an average of 32.80. He was also named as one of five Wisden Cricketers of the year in 2000.