Cruel diagnosis for Ched Town’s daughter Carlie
Carlie and her daughter Lillie
By John Ross and Rod Cedaro
FOR those that don’t know Ched Towns, Ched was a larger than life local Aussie legend. He was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa, Ched - a promising Rugby League player went progressively blind. During the early phases of this dreadful disease Ched became bitter and twisted almost losing his marriage in the process, however following a trip to the UK for some radical (but ultimately unsuccessful) treatment, he returned to Australia a changed and accepting man. Slowly but surely his world changed. Ched became a highly in-demand motivational speaker both in Australia and internationally, he could spin a yarn and have an audience hanging on every word - he’d found his calling. Ched was also a doer - with less than two per cent vision (he could distinguish night from day) Ched, Judy and his kids Kane and Carlie attacked life with a vengeance. Ched
trekked the Kokoda trail, scuba dived and jumped out of planes - and had a funny story to tell about each adventure. Ched and my paths first crossed in 1990 I won the Australian Ironman triathlon and Ched took all the media exposure and accolades on the day and I took the p*** out of him for doing so - forging a deep friendship with he and his family that lasts til this day. Ched had ambitions of becoming the first “blinky” to summit Mount Everest and some 17 years ago whilst preparing for that quest suffered an embolism on Mera Peak and passed away - devastating all that knew him. Ched passed believing that the disease which afflicted him (Retinitis Pigmentosa or simply RP) died with him - at least in relation to his family. The disease is genetically transferred by the female to the male offspring and Kane was cleared early on. In a cruel twist of fate I was contacted by Carlie about a month ago and informed that she had contracted the disease and was progressively losing her sight at 40 years of age, a mum of two young kids and single. Carlie had to give up her drivers licence, and consequently, her nursing job! Carlie didn’t call me to whinge about her predicament, she called me because the 15 year old kid inside the 40 year old woman, missed her dad and needed to chat to someone who knew (and loved him). She just needed an emotional cuddle from “someone who knew”. My heart broke with that phone
call and together with a group of likeminded people (John, Louise, Ron, Andrew, Tony, Judy, Kane to mention but a few) we’ve swung into action to raise much needed funds to help support Carlie and her kids through this next phase of her life as she learns to cope with this incredibly cruel development.
Please mark March 22nd off in your diary and join us at a golf day for Carlie - or contact me direct with any donation you wish to offer - anything will be greatly appreciated. Life is cruel sometimes but how we deal with such cruelty defines us as human-beings.
Comforting quilts for those nearing the end of their days THE Caring Hearts Community Quilters excelled themselves last month having been able to distribute beautiful patchwork quilts to Hawkesbury, Nepean, Springwood and Blue Mountains Hospitals for their palliative care wards. These colourful quilts bring comfort and support for people nearing the end of the end of their lives, not only the physical symptoms such as pain, but also the emotional, spiritual and social needs of the patient and their carer. These senior ladies that make this group of dedicated patchworkers have been stitching their special kind of magic into these quilts now for almost 15 years with the knowledge that they are truly doing something they love whilst bringing joy and comfort to those that receive them. One of the members of the group of 12 quilters, said the quilters had also arranged delivery, transport and distribution of hundreds of quilts for people throughout the country affected by floods, fires and
other disasters. As the demand of their quilts grow they are hoping that other quilters might be interested in making the occasional quilt for them, and patchworkers are always welcomed into their group, they are always delighted to have donations of fabric and UFO’s as they use a great amount of fabric as you can well imagine. The Caring Hearts Quilters are having their 9th Airing of the Quilts, their only fundraising event for the year on April 8 at The Arms of Australia Inn Museum, Cnr Great Western Highway and Gardenia Street, Emu Plains 10am to 4pm with the cost of $5 to see the quilts. There will be a Trading Table, with handmade goods and a book stall, Devonshire Teas, Sausage Sizzle, and a Quilt Raffle that will be drawn on the day and Live Music at Noon. This is an outside event so will have to be cancelled in the event of bad weather. For any further information, contact Margaret Collier on 4735 2058.
11 Nepean News 16 February 2017 Issue 194
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