Watch the heartwarming moment Chris Cairns takes huge steps in his recovery from a spinal stroke and heart attack as he does something most men take for granted
- Chris Cairns visited a pub on Monday
- It was the first time since life-changing health problems
- Cairns has had a heart attack, stroke and cancer
After a long layoff of two and a half years, Chris Cairns walked into a pub, a major step forward in his recovery from a heart attack and spinal cord injury.
Cairns shared images on his Instagram page on Monday of the moment he entered a pub on crutches. The former Black Caps all-rounder grimaced but smiled as he walked towards a table.
“Day 1 of many ahead…what a team…I'm so blessed and can't thank you all enough,” he said alongside hashtags that read “not done yet” and “how to keep it up.”
The video itself was captioned: 'So… a Kiwi walks into a pub (after two and a half bloody years!!!)'
Cairns, 53, suffered a heart attack in 2021 and was on life support in Sydney hospital.
Chris Cairns took a huge step in his recovery from a heart attack and stroke
The former Black Caps all-rounder entered the pub for the first time in two and a half years
Cairns suffered a heart attack, stroke and cancer, but has shown an incredible fighting spirit
He then suffered a stroke in his spine as a result of one of his four open heart surgeries.
Just a week after being discharged from hospital in Cnaberra, Cairns was diagnosed with bowel cancer.
Cairns underwent multiple surgeries, rehabilitation and chemotherapy over a brutal 12 months, and recently reflected on his ordeal.
'I'm no different than anyone else… there's no secret recipe. It's essentially a choice,” he told the Between Two Beers podcast. 'The human race is endowed with a faculty in the mind that allows you to choose your response to any situation.
'That's the most important thing you have, and sometimes people don't take advantage of it. It's easy to be a victim, easier to be someone else's fault… to be unlucky.
'I just never carried that mentality. Maybe it was because of cricket or other things in my life… that choice aspect is always the most important.
'Of course I burst into tears or feel terrible, but I try to get out of that quickly. The most important things in all of this are choice and purpose.”