Electrician Boyd Clark (42) will be in the audience at Nick: An Accidental Hero in the Fortune Studio tonight, watching for the first time actor Renee Lyons in her solo show tell the story of Chisholm, his best mate.
Chisholm survived the stroke but now lives with locked-in syndrome, unable to talk or move.
Clark is one of eight characters Lyons plays in the show.
She visited Dunedin to research him, Clark said.
''I took her mountain biking down Pineapple Track at night and tried to wear her out but she's gutsy as hell.''
The father-of-three expected Lyons to exaggerate his mannerisms in the play and, from her line of questioning, expected her to explore some darker moments when he visited his friend in hospital and the light-hearted humour he used to battle on.
The two men met at Milton Primary School in 1979, when a teacher buddied them up when Clark was the new kid at school.
''The teacher had done me a huge favour because the coolest kid in class was forced to look after me.
''He was a feisty little devil with plenty to say - a typical halfback, full of yap.''
The friendship continued at Tokomairiro High School and beyond.
The men flatted together in Dunedin for four years.
Clark was working as an electrician's apprentice and Chisholm an architectural draughtsman.
Clark has vivid memories the day his friend fell, while playing for Kaikorai Rugby Football Club in 2000.
''I thought it was just another knockout.''
When Clark checked on his mate on the sideline, Chisholm was joking with ''a couple of gorgeous physio girls and sticking in a bit of spade work''.
When a decision was made to take Chisholm to Dunedin Hospital for observation, Clark nearly decided to stay behind and watch the end of the game.
He was with Chisholm at the hospital when his friend, who was about to be discharged, began to convulse.
Clark screamed down the hallway for a doctor as a series of strokes violently shook his friend.
Chisholm looked at his friend and said, ''Help me'', before his body was paralysed.
After doctors predicted the worst, Clark stopped work and started funeral arrangements.
However, Chisholm beat the odds and started communicating by moving his eyeballs and then began about two and a-half years' rehabilitation at Wakari Hospital.
Clark visited Chisholm nearly every day, where the doctors' dire forecasts motivated Chisholm to get better.
''He's the toughest man in the world. He won't say die.''
Clark was best man at Chisholm's wedding at Larnach Castle in January and the friendship was as strong as ever, as Chisholm exposed Clark to new experiences, such as free tickets to escort him to boxing and rugby matches.
''He's been a good man to me, too,'' Clark said.
''I'm pleased he's doing so well in life now. He's such a gutsy bastard.''
