Lucky” isn’t a word many would use to describe everything that Kiwi cricket legend Chris Cairns has been through in the past year.
He suffered a terrifying cardiac illness that nearly killed him and then a spinal stroke that has robbed him of the use of his legs, forcing him to endure months of gruelling rehab and hospital stays. And as if that wasn’t enough, in February, Chris was diagnosed with bowel cancer. In the space of a year, he’s gone from able-bodied to relying on a wheelchair for mobility and a permanent stoma for his bowel function.
But when Woman’s Day catches up with the courageous 52-year-old over video call from his home in Canberra, Australia, that word “lucky” just keeps coming up!
“It’s honestly how I feel,” he says, a smile on his face and his arm draped lovingly around wife Mel, 42. “The reality is, I shouldn’t be here. I’ve been told there’s no medical reason at all that I survived, so as much as
