{"id":4137,"date":"2025-06-27T06:00:29","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T20:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/?p=4137"},"modified":"2025-06-24T16:27:52","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T06:27:52","slug":"patient-geoffrey-is-a-peer-supporter-and-radio-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/news\/patient-geoffrey-is-a-peer-supporter-and-radio-star","title":{"rendered":"Patient Geoffrey is a peer supporter and radio STAR"},"content":{"rendered":"

Patient Geoffrey is a peer supporter and radio STAR<\/h1>\n

Patient Geoffrey is looking forward to returning to his amateur radio club after rehabilitation at STARS following a spinal cord injury.<\/p><\/div>\n

Patient Geoffrey, also affectionately known as \u2018Wombat\u2019 has been calling STARS home since early January. After suffering from paralysis in his legs, Geoffrey was originally taken to Redcliffe Hospital. He was diagnosed with a stage 1 spinal schwannoma, a tumour of the nerve sheath, leaving him with a spinal cord injury. After surgery to remove the tumour, Geoffrey came to STARS to undergo his rehabilitation.<\/h4>\n

\u201cOne of my focuses has been to work on transfers from my wheelchair to bed and back again. My amazing physio Ang also brought her own car into the hospital so I could practice car transfers,\u201d said Geoffrey.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the gym, I\u2019ve been using the pedal bike to keep my legs moving and building up my upper body strength to help with the transfers.\u201d<\/p>\n

STARS physiotherapist Angela Williamson has been assisting Geoffrey in his recovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeoffrey has exceeded our initial expectations and is standing and taking several steps with assistance. He has worked hard and become a cheerleader for the other patients who come to him for peer support. He even joins in with fun shirt Friday,\u201d said Angela.<\/p>\n

For Geoffrey, this isn\u2019t the first major health issue he has come up against.<\/p>\n

\u201cSixteen years ago, I was diagnosed with a skin cancer that resulted in surgery on my bottom lip. I was able to beat that cancer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Geoffrey also lived through Darwin\u2019s Cyclone Tracy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was fourteen at the time and I remember hiding in a built-in cupboard in a bedroom with my siblings. During the eye of the cyclone, our Yugoslavian neighbour climbed up to make repairs to his roof,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy family and I were evacuated by air, initially to Mackay but then to Brisbane.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Geoffrey leaves STARS, he is looking forward to getting back to the Redcliffe and District Amateur Radio Club where he is the logbook administrator.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been involved in amateur radio clubs for many years. I love being able to talk to people all over the world, from the Maldives to Turkey to Illinois. We discuss our previous working lives and our other hobbies and interests,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of the Americans I talk to are really interested in our native Australian animals, which is also a love of mine. I particularly like macropods, but also the platypus and of course the wombat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the health challenges he has faced, Geoffrey remains optimistic about the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just have to stay positive, just think about getting better. My motto is from Monty Python\u2019s Life of Brian, \u2018Always look on the bright side of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of people in a worse off situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Geoffrey\u2019s recovery has now reached a stage where he can leave STARS, moving to Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA).<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Patient Geoffrey, also known as \u2018Wombat\u2019 has been calling STARS home since early January, following the diagnosis of a spinal schwannoma tumour which left him with a spinal cord injury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4138,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-patient-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4137"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4140,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4137\/revisions\/4140"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/stars\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}