Once an icon of New Zealand cricket, the tragedy of Chris Cairns saw the flamboyant all rounder go from the hero of his nation to working for his local council to make ends meet. The 55-year-old was one of the sport’s most popular stars. He played in 62 Tests between 1989 to 2004 and scored over 3000 runs and took 218 wickets.

Upon retiring from all forms of cricket in 2006, Cairns was even made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit. New Zealand-based media compared his retirement to that of NBA legend Michael Jordan and tennis hero Bjorn Borg. Yet he was later rocked by a match-fixing scandal that saw Cairns take a job paying £7.35 ($17 NZ) an hour to foot his legal bills after becoming penniless. Former cricketer Dion Nash told the New Zealand Herald in 2014 that Cairns had been reduced to driving a council truck and hosing down bus shelters around Auckland.

He is alleged to have attempted to manipulate games in India when he was captain of the Chandigarh Lions in the short lived Indian Cricket League. Cairns was never found guilty of any wrong-doing and firmly rejected all accusations.

In March 2012, Cairns successfully sued Lalit Modi, the former Indian Premier League commissioner, for libel. Back in 2010 Modi had posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Cairns had been involved in match-fixing during 2008 which led to Cairns being awarded costs and damages.

The match-fixing allegations were just the tip of Cairn’s troubles however. On August 21, 2021 Cairns suffered an aorta tear which resulted in heart failure. He was dramatically airlifted to a Sydney hospital from Canberra, where he resided.

The frightening ordeal led to a spinal stroke that left Cairns paralysed from the waist down. He also suffered from multiple organ failures.

In a bitterly cruel blow, mere months later, he was then diagnosed with bowel cancer. Cairns went into surgery to have a stoma fitted, an opening in his stomach that enables him to excrete waste.

Speaking to the New Zealand Herald, Cairns opened up on his harrowing ordeal. “I got my life back [after having the stoma]. I can go out, eat what I like, drink what I like, be social again,” he said.

The news about his paralysis also floored him. Candidly, he added: “It dawned on me: the diagnosis, the situation I was in – in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. Because you’re a former professional athlete who was once one of the best in the world.”

Cairns now spends time coaching cricket to children. However, he admitted the reality of him being wheelchair-bound is a tough one to take.

“I know I’ll never go into the net again and have a bat,” he said.”I’ll go past a window, see my reflection as I’m wheeling myself down the street … and it shunts you a little bit.”

During his time battling cancer, Cairns underwent several surgeries. He also took on rehabilitation and chemotherapy over the course of a year.

Speaking in 2023 to the Between Two Beers podcast, he touched upon how his mental strength helped him overcome his various setbacks since calling time on his cricket career.

“I’m no different from anyone else… there’s no secret recipe. It’s choice, fundamentally,” he said. “The human race is gifted with an asset in the mind that allows you to choose your reaction to any situation.

“That is the most important thing you possess, and at times, people don’t tap into that. It’s easy to be a victim, easier for it to be someone else’s fault… to be unlucky.”