Experience you can count on

Yeah, so it's quite a common misconception, I guess, that any person who's riding a motorcycle on the road, um, when they're involved in an incident, they're just automatically deemed at fault because they're a clown, they’re a hoon. It's like the furthest thing from the truth.

About three years ago now, coming home from TAFE, only two minutes around the corner from home, and next thing you know I've just heard a car engine and then, yeah, bang.

By the time I come to, I looked down at my ankles and my knee and I wasn't in a good state. Three weeks in hospital, six months to sort of get to walk again, wheelchair and all the jazz, so.

The effect it had on my family was quite severe. My mother more so. Mother son relationship, I guess.

The outlook on life after the accident was, it was pretty bleak, yeah. It was, you think to yourself that I've got this profession that I've chosen and I enjoy and it's taken from you from one simple act.

Early on in the piece, the insurer for the other party, basically pointed the finger at me and said you're 80 per cent at fault.

Sometimes insurance companies try to say that an accident wasn't the fault of the person that they insure and they do that to save money. And our job is to persuade the insurance company that the accident happened in the way that our clients said that it did happen.

Yeah, at the time I had a friend who knew Michelle and suggested that, ‘look these Maurice Blackburn guys, they're good at what they do go and have a chat to them’.

As a lawyer, it wasn't just my job to help him get damages, but it was to help him right along the way. It was my job to organize his rehab, to make sure that everybody who was dealing with him, understood what he needed and to help him on that path to see a good future for himself.

Throughout the proceedings, Maurice Blackburn, um, they did everything in their power, which was amazing, and the results showed in the settlement. I had that peace of mind from Maurice Blackburn that they were looking after me and doing what was best for me.

Post-traumatic stress disorder is, I think, it's very misunderstood. The little things that seem so insignificant to a bystander can actually take you straight back to that moment. I was in charge on a night shift with this particular patient, and he seemed perfectly fine before he decided to stab me. He stabbed me in the face, missed my eye by a centimetre and I sustained a fractured eye socket and a penetrating stab wound. I’ve lost that passion for my job. I do want, I hope eventually that I will go back to it, but I can't say with any honesty at this point in time that I will go back to hands-on nursing.

I remember a conversation with Andrew, the first time I met him, and I went in and had a chat. And I just said, ‘should I even be doing this’? And I remember him saying ‘you 100 per cent need to let me do this with you’.

Amanda was, when she first saw me, she was really struggling she. She was clearly impacted by what had happened.

I just wanted to be heard, really. I wanted people to understand that the part that made me a good nurse was broken.

These cases are always difficult. The insurer, again, in this situation behaved badly. They denied liability. They made measly offers, and it wasn't until we pushed right the way through to make sure that she got the compensation that she was entitled to.

So it's been good to know that at least, in the regard of financially the damage has been repaired, yeah it's been good.

It would have been round about May or June in 2015. I had a lot of trouble sleeping on my right side. It was like a pain, so I left it for about, I suppose a month. I went to my GP. She sent me for a CAT scan it's come back from the biopsies that you have what is called mesothelioma from asbestos.

I couldn't believe it for a while, but then I knew there was nothing I could do about it. I knew that they can't operate because it's like they're like slithers of glass.

I developed this asbestos disease by washing Ray's work clothes. He'd come home from work he'd change in the laundry. I'd give them a good shake put them in the washing machine and that was something that went on for 40 years.

I was the lucky one. All of my life I've been a nurse because I've always loved helping people. As I've had to retire from nursing because I can't manage it anymore with this pain, Maurice Blackburn, it's like they're returning the favour, they're looking after me.

Sean was my voice, he was marvellous.

At Maurice Blackburn, we come out and see a client in their home, discuss their life story and then go away and take care of everything, whilst keeping them updated as the process goes along. To help sue, and to have changed her life and to see how much it means to her that we've been there to support her through this, makes me feel really pleased that I can do this job and provide the support to people

It felt really bittersweet. Bitter because of what I had been exposed to and what my diagnosis was and not knowing my prognosis. But it was sweet knowing that I want to help everybody. The only thing I don't want to know is how long I've got.

Who knows, I still want to do what I can while I can.

Oh losing Terry's just changed my life.

There's not one part of me that hasn't changed. I just miss his beautiful eyes looking at me, feeling loved.

Terry attended a Mad Monday function for the local country football club. They'd won the premiership the day before and they were celebrating. For some unknown reason, a guy came up and started provoking Terry and then things grew out of hand and Terry then actually retaliated and hit him. And then, after a few minutes, this young man just walked up to him and hit him in the face, and Terry collapsed to the floor.

He was then taken by a helicopter, to the Alfred hospital. He was on life support for 13 days at the hospital then told us that he'd had catastrophic brain damage and that he was no longer living and we had to turn off the life support machine.

Terry and I started fostering nine years ago and we found it really rewarding. He was a wonderful, caring foster carer. He was a gentle kind man to a lot of these children who've never had a passive male role model.

He shouldn't have died. And there was a case to answer for and people need to be responsible. We have a barrister in the family and Demi's name come up as a very passionate and caring person. She's an extraordinary woman and she's passionate about raising awareness about the coward punch.

She didn't want another family to endure what her and her family had to go through. The family feels the venue was responsible that night because they were still serving people that were intoxicated and there wasn't enough security.

The insurer pushed hard in this case. They initially made a really lousy offer and I had to advise Wendy not to accept it. Thankfully, her patience paid off because we settled her case for a lot higher amount.

It was never about money. If I could touch Terry's hand one more time and he was with me I’d just give the world for that.