Urgent Medical Treatment Required
Donation protected
Let me start by saying that I'm not asking for the world; I'm just asking to get at least some form of quality of life back and I'm asking for your assistance to help me do that.
I've spent most of my working life helping others; sometimes in ways that you could never imagine.
Eleven years ago, before that fateful day, I was a happily married man with a beautiful wife, a happy home and a child on the way. But then on Christmas Day 2006, everything changed.
I had an accident that resulted in 11 broken ribs, a punctured lung, lacerated kidney, damaged bladder and countless lacerations and bruises. The only thing that saved me that day was the helmet that I was wearing.
Shortly after the accident, my wife left me with hardly a word, I lost a child, I lost my marriage, and eventually lost my business, my home and my investment property.
I've spent the last 11 years in and out of hospital wards and intensive care units.
I suffer chronic pain, have had one hip replaced and need the other one done too, but the first hip replacement caused a stroke and as you can imagine, I'm a little reluctant to get the other one done now. I seem to have constant bladder and kidney infections resulting from the permanent catheter I had to have surgically implanted. I've recently been diagnosed with pancreatitis and gallstones and have been told that I need surgery to have my gallbladder removed, but it seems to be a vicious cycle because they won't do the surgery until the inflammation has decreased. I also have an umbilical hernia the size of a grapefruit that also needs surgery.
Thinking that a quieter lifestyle in Tasmania would help my recovery, I made the move down there, but there just weren't the specialists down there, nor the treatment that I required. So after a few years, I made the move back to Melbourne.
Aside from the chronic pain, I have frequent seizures and the irony is that a lot of the pain medication that I'm on lowers my seizure threshold, meaning I have more frequent seizures.
Depression and PTSD are huge issues that I'm fighting every day. I mean, don't get me wrong - life and my upbringing weren't perfect, but after finishing school and starting work, I decided that all I wanted to do was to help people who found themselves in the situations that I had - well, that and more. And I was good at what I did.
I have had countless falls due to lack of sleep, pain and my seizures. One fall even resulted in a fractured skull and a period of unconsciousness. I've had a few small procedures to reduce the pressure in my brain but the constant headaches and occasional migraines are sometimes too much to deal with on top of everything else.
I've lost count the number of times that I've been in and out of hospitals and intensive care units. I've even tried to seek medical treatment overseas but that turned out to be an absolute disaster and I ended up having to be medivaced back to Melbourne. Yet I crashed numerous times on the plane; my only saving grace being the Thai doctor and nurse that the travel insurance company had arranged to travel with me.
I've also lost count of the money I've spent trying to get some element of quality of life back; hence my plea to the general public to help me with some of the estimated costs of treatment, so that I can go back to doing some of the life-saving and life-changing work that I used to do and that I love so much and that gives me a purpose.
But even though I have "been through the ringer" over the last 11 years, I still don't forget about other people out there who have it worse than I do.
So if there is one, or maybe two things that I could get back is (1) some normalcy in my life and maybe, just maybe have a day without pain; and (2) to get back to work and start being a contributing member of society again.
Australian specialists are hesitant to operate, but the doctors that treated me in Thailand are. So it's my intention to get back there as soon as I'm medically stable enough to do so and to get the treatment that I need. Once I've had the surgery that I need, I can then return to the work that I love in the countries that I've become incredibly attached to.
I've spent a considerable amount of time in South East Asian countries working with various NGOs in child protection and sex trafficking. It's an area that I am passionate about.
My biggest desire is to get back to South East Asia on a more full time basis and to keep making a difference to these people's lives.
I just need a little bit of assistance to get back on the right track and to get back to doing the work that I believe I was born to do in countries where they do not have as many liberties and freedoms that we enjoy here in Australia.
I've spent most of my working life helping others; sometimes in ways that you could never imagine.
Eleven years ago, before that fateful day, I was a happily married man with a beautiful wife, a happy home and a child on the way. But then on Christmas Day 2006, everything changed.
I had an accident that resulted in 11 broken ribs, a punctured lung, lacerated kidney, damaged bladder and countless lacerations and bruises. The only thing that saved me that day was the helmet that I was wearing.
Shortly after the accident, my wife left me with hardly a word, I lost a child, I lost my marriage, and eventually lost my business, my home and my investment property.
I've spent the last 11 years in and out of hospital wards and intensive care units.
I suffer chronic pain, have had one hip replaced and need the other one done too, but the first hip replacement caused a stroke and as you can imagine, I'm a little reluctant to get the other one done now. I seem to have constant bladder and kidney infections resulting from the permanent catheter I had to have surgically implanted. I've recently been diagnosed with pancreatitis and gallstones and have been told that I need surgery to have my gallbladder removed, but it seems to be a vicious cycle because they won't do the surgery until the inflammation has decreased. I also have an umbilical hernia the size of a grapefruit that also needs surgery.
Thinking that a quieter lifestyle in Tasmania would help my recovery, I made the move down there, but there just weren't the specialists down there, nor the treatment that I required. So after a few years, I made the move back to Melbourne.
Aside from the chronic pain, I have frequent seizures and the irony is that a lot of the pain medication that I'm on lowers my seizure threshold, meaning I have more frequent seizures.
Depression and PTSD are huge issues that I'm fighting every day. I mean, don't get me wrong - life and my upbringing weren't perfect, but after finishing school and starting work, I decided that all I wanted to do was to help people who found themselves in the situations that I had - well, that and more. And I was good at what I did.
I have had countless falls due to lack of sleep, pain and my seizures. One fall even resulted in a fractured skull and a period of unconsciousness. I've had a few small procedures to reduce the pressure in my brain but the constant headaches and occasional migraines are sometimes too much to deal with on top of everything else.
I've lost count the number of times that I've been in and out of hospitals and intensive care units. I've even tried to seek medical treatment overseas but that turned out to be an absolute disaster and I ended up having to be medivaced back to Melbourne. Yet I crashed numerous times on the plane; my only saving grace being the Thai doctor and nurse that the travel insurance company had arranged to travel with me.
I've also lost count of the money I've spent trying to get some element of quality of life back; hence my plea to the general public to help me with some of the estimated costs of treatment, so that I can go back to doing some of the life-saving and life-changing work that I used to do and that I love so much and that gives me a purpose.
But even though I have "been through the ringer" over the last 11 years, I still don't forget about other people out there who have it worse than I do.
So if there is one, or maybe two things that I could get back is (1) some normalcy in my life and maybe, just maybe have a day without pain; and (2) to get back to work and start being a contributing member of society again.
Australian specialists are hesitant to operate, but the doctors that treated me in Thailand are. So it's my intention to get back there as soon as I'm medically stable enough to do so and to get the treatment that I need. Once I've had the surgery that I need, I can then return to the work that I love in the countries that I've become incredibly attached to.
I've spent a considerable amount of time in South East Asian countries working with various NGOs in child protection and sex trafficking. It's an area that I am passionate about.
My biggest desire is to get back to South East Asia on a more full time basis and to keep making a difference to these people's lives.
I just need a little bit of assistance to get back on the right track and to get back to doing the work that I believe I was born to do in countries where they do not have as many liberties and freedoms that we enjoy here in Australia.
Organizer
Tracey Oliver
Organizer
Heathwood VIC
