Persevere Adapt Overcome

The miracles of modern technology never cease to amaze me
We were flying to Dallas Texas that morning for my sons wedding the grand children were coming with us so we had loaded up with all sorts of technology to keep them entertained
Surprisingly they slept most of the way
The night before I  packed up my turnout gear to be sent of for cleaning yet I still hadn't turned of the pager
The car arrived to take us to the airport so the pager was switched off I was no longer on call my link to what was going on in our patch had been silenced (My wife thought it was a good thing)
We arrived safely in Dallas after some 16 hours in the air that in itself is a modern miracle
America the land of the free Wi Fi every where we went you could be connected shopping centers,  coffee shops
We settled in and got used to driving on the wrong side of the road
The Sat Nav getting a good workout (We still got lost) still quite amazing how it all works
Sitting in a Mc Donald's for lunch one day with the Grandchildren  the CFA Fire Ready App went ping on the iPad  (I had previously set up an alert for my area)
It was interesting to see that the application worked some 14 thousand miles away
I logged on to  CFA Online sure enough Doreen had been paged I flicked over to the Scanner App that had been recommended to me by the Comms Officer
We sat there listening to the turnout by the 1st Lieutenant and followed the job all the way through to the conclusion
So there I was in a Mc Donald's in Dallas Texas listening to what was happening  back in Doreen Victoria Australia
I decided I would post a message on the Doreen CFA Facebook page congratulating  the team on the excellent radio work and a job well done
A message came back that perhaps I should be enjoying my Holidays

I took their advice but the technology available to us still amazes me
In closing I highly recommend the CFA app and wish to congratulate all those involved in developing it

There were a few of us that decided to stay back and have a coffee after the last turnout

 

Ok your invincible or at least you thought you were

I was one of ten people selected for a 2 day pilot course at Fiskville. The idea was to take volunteers who may be the initial Incident  controller at  a job and give them some experience in a realistic environment

I don't know when I first noticed that the Fire Station did not have a Flagpole but it got me to thinking that we perhaps should.

 

We believed it time to give you all  an update on Matthew Temby's progress 

Matthew and Steve have been going to The National Institute of Health at Bethesda in America USA  since 2009 for research treatment of a rare form of thyroid cancer. Matthew was a thriving twelve year old who enjoyed the things that most kids his age do, computers, visiting his friends and participating in CFA Juniors. At that time Steve was Second Lieutenant at Doreen CFA and  they both would attend training on a Sunday together  Steve is still an active  volunteer fire fighter

Steve and his wife Linda thought that their son had a bad case of the flu when they took him to the hospital back in June 2009 with breathing problems.

 Many tests later, doctors at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne discovered the cause was a tumor emanating from his thyroid, crushing his windpipe. 

To assist Matthew’s breathing doctors at the Children’s Hospital in conjunction with the Austin Hospital inserted a tracheotomy (which he still has and copes extremely well with)

 If that wasn’t hard enough, doctors then gave them the daunting news that Matt’s particular tumor was a result of a rare genetic disease known as MEN2B, something we had never heard of. 

There was no effective treatment available to him in Australia and after a stay in hospital of almost six weeks Matt was allowed to come home.

In August 2009, Matt and Steve left  our country for the first time to travel to the United States. With the support of family, friends and local CFA Brigades they were escorted to Melbourne Airport to begin their journey.

To spend any length of time away from your family is hard, however The Children’s Inn at NIH certainly makes it a lot easier. 

Matthew and Steve  have spent some 24 weeks at The Children’s Inn and made many good friends (both from the Inn and outside of it.) There is always some form of activity or outing that helps take your mind off the medical side of the trip.

 I don’t think that words alone can describe The Children’s Inn, you have to see it first hand to appreciate what a fantastic place it is and the dedicated staff that work there.

The Children’s Inn have also made contact with the Australian Embassy in Washington 

 Whilst this will be a great opportunity for the Inn, it is hoped that it will also promote Matthew’s story to the Government back home so that we may be able to source the treatment without the need to travel such long distances 

Given everything The Inn and NIH have done for the Temby family, I feel that it would be extremely worthwhile for the Australian Embassy to consider donating or contribute in some way to this special place, you have to visit first hand to see  all that goes on there

Matthew & Steve are about to embark on their  10th Trip back to America for more tests and the drug treatment that has made such a huge difference to Matthew and his family

It is with these trips in mind that a group of CFA Volunteers formed the Matthew Temby Trust to raise funds for the trips to America and promote awareness of Matthews condition. With your generous assistance the trust has been able to fund the trips 

With the out look for Matthew looking brighter the tumor has reduced in size and we believe with further treatment the next step at some time in the future would be surgical removal

The Trust through you kind donations has been able to fund all of these trips but we are now at a time where we need your assistance again to fund future trips to America

Whist cash is always the easiest for the Trust to handle support can be provided in many ways donation of goods for raffles, frequent flyer  points, an introduction to a benefactor or a contact with an airline (One generous soul donated a car for us to resell)

The Trust in conjunction with the members of the Doreen CFA plans to hold a function at the Greensborough RSL in May Or June

In the mean time any assistance is very much appreciated. Non Tax Deductible Donations can be paid directly into the Bendigo Bank account number 633 000 137 812 616 or, alternatively, cheques can be forwarded to The Matthew Temby Fund, P.O. Box 59, Doreen, VIC, 3754.

 

06.54 Saturday morning it's a day off in more ways than one

 

Another lesson learnt - Things never quite turn out how you expect them to.

3.24 AM The pager vibrating and screeching on the bedside table wakes me from my sleep

 

I suppose it had to happen

 

Recovery

 

The Aftermath

   

I'm a Husband, Father & Grandfather

Hi to all

Despite of what I have read in the press

I'm very proud of what we as a Brigade achieved before during and after Black Saturday

I know for a fact that several of our members lives where put on the line that day

I know that despite their best efforts we were unable to get to those most in need

We live with that every single day

Our Morale is stronger than ever