Wallace's confession 'I'M BATTLING A RARE DISEASE'

The broadcaster reveals how hip surgery’s easing his pain and will lead to wonderful family adventures

- Nicky Pellegrino

Wallace Chapman has a dream. He longs to join his family on a bush walk in the Waitākare Ranges or a long stroll round his neighbourhood in suburban Auckland.

It might not seem like much to aim for, but for Wallace, the simple pleasure of walking has been out of reach for a very long time.

“I have a rare illness called Gaucher disease,” the 55-year-old broadcaster reveals. “It’s actually a blood disorder. My whole life has been limited by it.”

Wallace is missing an enzyme that breaks down fatty substances in the body, causing them to build up and damage organs, joints and bones. In this country, there are only a handful of sufferers and everyone experiences the condition differently. In Wallace’s case, it was his left hip that first started showing signs of a problem.

“In my twenties, I started limping quite badly,” he recalls. “It got worse and worse until one day I couldn’t walk even a short distance down the road.” 

At the time, he was a student at the University of Otago and a keen long-distance runner, so to begin with it was put down to a sporting injury. But then Wallace’s belly started swelling and doctors discovered that his spleen was massively bloated.

Rather than being a normal fist-sized organ, it had enlarged to the dimensions of a two-litre bottle of milk. Surgery followed to cut his spleen in half, then a diagnosis of Gaucher disease was made.