Cricket legend Chris Cairns has endured a series of severe health challenges, including a torn aorta, a spinal stroke, and a battle with bowel cancer. Recently, he has spoken candidly for the first time about the impact these events have had on his personal life, particularly the end of his marriage.

Cairns, now 55, was a beloved figure in New Zealand cricket, having played 62 Test matches between 1989 and 2004. During his illustrious career, he amassed over 3,000 runs and took 218 wickets, earning him a place in the hearts of many fans.

Upon retiring, Cairns’s departure from the sport was compared to Michael Jordan’s exit from the NBA. He was honored as an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit and transitioned into a successful television career.

However, his world was turned upside down on August 21, 2021, when he suffered a life-threatening aortic tear. This critical condition required him to be airlifted from his home in Canberra to a hospital in Sydney, where he faced heart failure.

The ordeal resulted in a spinal stroke that left Cairns paralyzed from the waist down. Complications continued, leading to multiple organ failures and the necessity of dialysis, marking a challenging chapter in his life.

Just a few months later, he was diagnosed with bowel cancer. 

Chris Cairns is pictured with his estranged wife Melanie Crosser and their children before the triple health blow that almost killed him and left him paralysed

The cricket legend and Crosser (pictured together) were married in 2010

The Kiwi cricket legend suffered a torn aorta that almost killed him, a spinal stroke that robbed him of the ability to walk – and was diagnosed with bowel cancer just months later

Cairns’s wife Melanie Crosser was a rock for him not just through his illness, but also when he was at the centre of match-fixing allegations that he admits saw him turned into a villain in the eyes of many fans, even though he was never found guilty.

However, their marriage ended in 2023, and Crosser now lives in Melbourne with her new partner. 

‘This is the first time I’ve talked about it,’ he said.

‘We went through an enormous amount as a couple.

‘Two years ago, we made a mutual decision to separate.

‘She’s happy. The kids are great. 

‘I wish nothing but the best for her.’ 

Cairns now has a surgically created opening in his abdomen, known as a stoma, that allows waste to leave his body.

Cairns (pictured with one of his sons) has also revealed the health blow that had the worst effect on him: ‘It nearly broke me’

Crosser (pictured) now lives in Melbourne with the couple’s children and her new partner 

The swashbuckling all-rounder (pictured playing for New Zealand in 2000) received one of New Zealand’s highest honours and forged a television career

Despite the paramedics who treated him for the aorta tear believing he wouldn’t live through the trip to Sydney, that’s not the ailment that has left the worst mark on him.

Instead, he has revealed the shattering effect of being told he’d have to wear adult nappies as a result of the cancer, before the stoma solution.

‘That was probably the one thing that nearly broke me because I couldn’t really go anywhere. I didn’t want to embarrass others,’ he told the New Zealand Herald.

‘I got my life back [after having the stoma added].

‘I can go out, eat what I like, drink what I like, be social again.’

Cairns couldn’t get his head around the news about his paralysis when doctors first told him, but that soon changed.

‘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 coaches kids’ cricket and says seeing the tyre marks from his wheelchair on the turf brings home a painful realisation.

‘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.’

Last April, the former swashbuckling all-rounder revealed he’d hit a huge milestone in his recovery from the triple health blow.

He posted a video to social media showing him walking on his own while using crutches outside his home, before eventually using just one walking stick. 

‘Believing…always believing…,’ he posted alongside the hashtags ‘notdoneyet ‘ and ‘howyouendure’.

Cairns underwent multiple surgeries, rehabilitation and chemotherapy during those brutal 12 months, and reflected on his ordeal in 2023.

‘I’m no different from anyone else… there’s no secret recipe. It’s choice, fundamentally,’ he told Between Two Beers podcast. 

‘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.’