On September 25, 2007, William Pike wanted to take his best friend, James Christie, on a hike up Mount Ruapehu, an active volcano in New Zealand. Pike, an avid outdoorsman who was 22 years old at the time, had hoped to give his friend a true taste of mountaineering and the outdoors.
At the end of the first day of the climb, they camped for the night in the Dome Shelter, a small, iced enclosure that sits about 10,000 feet above sea level. If it doesn’t sound comfortable or inviting, it isn’t, says Pike. “What it lacks in comfort, it makes up for with sublime views,” he says.
That evening, without a moment’s notice, the volcano—a popular attraction for hikers and snowboarders—erupted, spewing mud, rock, and snow thousands of feet in the air. That debris crashed down on top of their shelter, burst through the door, and crushed Pike’s legs beneath the rubble. Christie, fortunately, escaped injury. He was able to stabilize Pike, who was now critically injured, and get down the mountain to find help.
“After six hours of fighting for my life, I succumbed to hypothermia, and I was certain I was going to die,” says Pike, an elementary school teacher.
When rescuers reached Pike early the next morning, he was unconscious with a body temperature of 77 degrees Fahrenheit. After multiple helicopter rides, Pike was taken to Waikato Hospital in Hamilton, New Zealand—where he endured a two-month hospital stay and many months of rehabilitation.
Transtibial Amputation
Pike woke in the intensive care unit, “overjoyed to be alive,” he says. “I knew I had lost my [right] leg and I was gutted, but the joy of being alive far outweighed losing my leg.”
His kidneys had shut down from being crushed and the toxins in his blood, so he needed dialysis. He had 12 revision surgeries on his residual limb, many to remove gangrene that had set in because of an infection. He also had a broken patella and some soft tissue damage to his left leg.
Despite his condition, Pike says he wasn’t going to let his injuries stand in the way of living a full life.
“In the hospital I decided that I was going to make the most of my second chance at life,” he says. “There was no way I was going to waste it.”
Pike set three goals: relearn to walk, return to teaching, and, eventually, return to the Dome Shelter.
A Challenging Recovery
Pike’s rehabilitation, which spanned about three years, was arduous and frustrating—yet at many times extremely rewarding, he says.
Physically, learning to navigate life with an amputation was demanding—a challenge he began with small steps. His prosthetic device, a patellar tendon bearing socket with a sleeve and a basic foot, didn’t fit properly. But he returned to swimming to build endurance. He went to the gym for strength training, and to get his fix for the outdoors he bought a kayak. “That way I could sit on my bum all day, but still have an adventure and be among nature,” he says.
During that time, he also went through two revisions on his residual limb and two minor operations to “tidy up the soft injuries on my good leg,” he says.
He slowly built up his endurance by walking constantly around his house, then the block, before graduating to walking around the neighborhood, and finally returning to mountaineering full time.
Pike was also consistently at his prosthetic clinic working with clinicians to optimize the fit of his prosthesis. “These visits, I believe, were key to my return to the great outdoors,” he says.
He returned to teaching just three months after his accident without using a prosthesis, he says. The questions he received from his curious students—such as “Will your leg ever grow back?”—were priceless, Pike says.
Water, Sand, Dirt
Pike’s residual limb is short and skinny, which has provided its share of challenges. “I have found that a basic silicone liner and socks work best for me, although I am currently trialing new solutions with my prosthetist,” he says, adding that the O&P clinic where he gets his care has been instrumental in his ongoing journey of care and rehabilitation.
Jennifer Wright, CP, who has worked in O&P for more than 30 years, met Pike and became his prosthetist in 2017 when she moved to New Zealand and started to work for Peke Waihanga Artificial Limb Service in Auckland.
Wright says Pike currently wears a gel sock inside a Bocklite (foam) liner inside a laminated socket, and a suspension sleeve with an Össur Proflex XC foot. “William has had many sockets over the years; all different styles of systems and components and likely too many to count,” she says. “The current system that he wears works well for him as he can change the number of socks he wears, which helps with volume management inside the socket.”
The XC foot Pike uses works because it is lightweight and simple. Since he’s often at the beach, boating, hiking, or gardening, his prosthetic components were frequently breaking down. “It was really frustrating for me,” he says.
This gave Pike an idea to create a cover that would help keep water, sand, dirt, and mud off his device. He began by starting a company, Pro Armour, in 2020, and developed the Pro Armour Lite and the Pro Armour PLUS.
The Pro Armour Lite is a protective outer surface covering system that consists of a neoprene shell, customizable Velcro closures, and a replaceable inner sock to reduce friction when donning and doffing. It is designed to protect the lower pylon and foot/ankle components against harsh environments. The Pro Armour PLUS is a lightweight cover with a nonslip, rubberized sole, designed to be used without footwear.
Wright says of the covers, “The products are great. Kiwi’s [a common way to refer to someone from New Zealand] don’t always wear shoes, so the Pro Armour PLUS really helps to prolong the life of the foot component if the prosthesis is worn outdoors without wearing shoes. They also help to keep particles out of the foot shell (like sand), which scratches the carbon and can lead to early failure.”
When Pike is in the outdoors, he wears the Pro Armour covers. “In those harsh environments, it’s a game changer. Now I have the freedom and confidence to enjoy my happy places,” he says. Pike has also put his product development skills to the test with prostheses for diving and cycling.
Wright says Pike is a model patient. “He’s great to work with as his input is invaluable,” she says. “He is a high achiever, so it makes us want to keep trying to find the best prosthesis for him. Also being in the prosthetics business, he is also always on the hunt for products and new and upcoming styles at conferences and suppliers internationally.”
Full Circle
Since his accident, Pike became an inspirational speaker and is the CEO and founder of the William Pike Challenge (WPC). The WPC program was formed more than a dozen years ago and has helped more than 30,000 of New Zealand’s students from 130 schools ages six to 13 years old to develop 21st-century skills by stepping outside of their comfort zone to achieve and experience extraordinary things, especially the outdoors, Pike says.
“I was fortunate to have experiences in my teenage years, such as hiking, sports, and giving back in my community, that I believe prepared me to overcome big challenges and shape me into the person I am today,” Pike says. “After returning to the classroom as a teacher, I questioned whether the students in my class were prepared to step into their world with confidence and reach their full potential. I was not convinced. So I had a wild vision: to prepare students for the future through the outdoors.”
Five years after his accident, Pike returned to the Dome Shelter with Christie, fulfilling the final goal he had set in the hospital.
“It was a momentous occasion and extremely satisfying for me to have gone full circle,” he says.
Pike married his wife, also an elementary school teacher, nine years ago, and they have a seven-year-old daughter.
Pike hopes to take his daughter to the Dome Shelter when she’s older.
“She’s quite the mover,” Pike says of his daughter, who’s into gymnastics and loves to hike and bike with her parents. “We’ve already shared some great adventures, and I can’t wait to plan more.”
Betta Ferrendelli can be contacted at [email protected].
