A man who once worked as Whangārei’s fix-it man has spent the last six months in and out of hospital with an unknown illness that is leaving him in chronic pain.

Dave Ferguson and Natasha Massey-Ferguson are self-employed, running the odd jobs business Dave’ll Do It since 2014, but without Dave’s physical ability to do jobs, Natasha said the pair were effectively out of business.

“In the community, Dave has been quite prevalent with the schools, with kids and camps, and we’ve got a number of elderly customers that we do pro bono work for,” Massey-Ferguson said.

“It’s gone from Dave being a fit co-owner who could run a half marathon to using a super stroller.”

The pair have resorted to selling their brand new Toyota Hilux to pay the bills, while a friend has set up a Givealittle page for the family to raise money.

“We’re emotionally and financially ruined,” Massey-Ferguson said.

Without a clear diagnosis or recovery plan, the family has no idea if things would ever be back to normal, or what the new normal would even look like.

“There’s no definitive time when he will be able to go back to work or drive. We’ve had so many doctors come around and tell us different stuff.”

What has been confirmed by doctors is that he has a thickening in the small bowel wall, which has raised more questions than answers.

She said he was swapped around between surgical, medical and pain teams and in the process, she wondered whether he “fell through the cracks”.

A cortisone blocker was placed in his stomach and he was sent home and told he would be referred to the “pain team”.

Massey-Ferguson said she rang the pain team four times with no response, and it wasn’t until they got their family doctor involved that an appointment was booked – on a nine-month-long waitlist.

After months of being in and out of the hospital, she feels Ferguson was just getting weaker and the pair were at a loss for what to do.

“For the entire school holidays, my 9-year-old and I sat next to his bed while he was curled up in a ball in pain.

“At the end of the day, we are still no closer to a diagnosis than when we went in on January 3.”

She is disappointed in the “run-around” he received at Whangārei Hospital, not because of the staff, who she praised, but for the lack of treatment.

“We feel the hospital has let us down a wee bit, not anything to do with the nurses or the triaging or anything to do with that, they have been amazing, but it’s just the system is wrong.

“I just feel like the Government needs to put some more effort into helping our hospitals because they are in dire need. The nurses are overworked, they’re understaffed, there’s not enough training.”

He said a hospital staff member told him they were having difficulty because there are three different head surgeons with three different consultants.

“Everything is getting lost in translation.”

He thinks it’s likely he needs special care in Auckland but feels lost without a referral from the Northland teams.

After the Advocate contacted Te Whatu Ora Northland, interim director provider services Alex Pimm said he appreciated the frustration that delays could cause patients and their whānau, and that Ferguson had been contacted.

“Following your enquiry, we have been in touch with Mr Ferguson to ensure that he understands his care plan and next steps. We were pleased to confirm that further diagnostic investigations were booked for Mr Ferguson for this week and that he is under the care of a specialist.

“We apologise for any difficulties there may have been contacting our clinical services. We will keep Mr Ferguson updated and involved in his care plan and any future appointments.

“We are unable to provide more detailed comments on individual patients’ treatment and care plans at this time for privacy reasons.

“Given our professional responsibilities to our patients, in accordance with the HDC Code of Consumer Rights and practitioner standards, Te Whatu Ora will only sometimes discuss details of patient care through the media, even if a waiver is provided by a patient to media,” Pimm said.

Dave’s Givealittle page can be found here: https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/davell-do-it-just-cant-do-it.