YOUR local
ISSUE 037 FRIDAY, 17 AUGUST, 2018
YOUR INDEPENDENT COMMUNITY
PAPER
Coolamon rallies for family Marguerite McKinnon
SADLY, tragedies hit many families, but when two members are diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses in the space of a few months, it’s a double whammy that’s hard to comprehend. In June 2017 Bill Randall had a coughing fit and blacked out while driving a fully-loaded tanker truck towards Uranquinty at 88 kilometres an hour. What happened next is nothing short of astounding. “My truck veered onto the wrong side of road, then went down a gully, through the rail fence, straight through a gum tree, then drove up on the railway line, turned back onto the tracks before coming to a perfect stop, like I’d parked it parallel to the train tracks,” Bill said. “When I came to, it was like a dust storm around me. I opened the cabin door and a freight train came past and missed me by a metre. I’m not a very spiritual man but my father was a truck driver who’d passed away and I believe my dad took me off that railway line that night.” Bill had an impeccable driving record and only weeks earlier had received his company’s Driver of the Year Award. Because recently-installed cameras recorded the event, police didn’t pursue charges. “If it wasn’t for those cameras, police would have booked me for negligent driving, thinking I fell asleep at the wheel. Instead it was clearly shown I had a medical episode and I was never charged,” Bill said. Following the incident, Bill underwent tests which picked up nodules on his chest. “I was told I had sarcoidosis lymphoma. I had no idea what that even was. The doctors told me that it was a form of cancer that was in my sternum, my stomach and my chest. “I was put on a steroid treatment. They don’t know what causes it, they just have some way of controlling it, but not curing it.” “I went back for another MRI three weeks later and discovered the condition had doubled in size. By August I had another scan and discovered the condition had spread to my brain, my heart and my spine,” Bill explained. Remarkably, he has remained positive and considers his truck accident a blessing in disguise. “If I didn’t have the accident and caught this disease, doctors said I could have been dead within 12 months.”
Reduced employment and pay, rounds of steroid treatments, repetitive scans, a diet of pills, and even more pills to ward off the side effects of the first pills, Bill found himself 40 kilograms lighter through the stressful treatment, and heavily in debt for the first time in his life. “We’ve had to get credits cards for the first time and the treatment and lack of work has seen us clock up $70,000 in debt,” Bill said. If this wasn’t enough, tragedy struck again just before Christmas. Bill’s 15-year-old daughter, Shaelea, was working as a waitress at Coolamon Chinese Restaurant when she started to feel unwell. “I got this really weird feeling and started to feel dizzy and hot, so I crouched down, but somehow I jumped back up and blacked out. I face-planted on the floor and started having convulsions,” Shaelea explained. Bill and wife Maggie were nearby at Maggie’s parent’s when they got the call so arrived within minutes to see Shaelea on the floor, shaking and unresponsive. She was taken to hospital and released but scans later revealed a massive tumour on her brain. She was rushed to Randwick Children’s Hospital where doctors removed the tumour and sent samples to the USA for analysis. Eight months later, the tumour has returned, and, added to this, since the surgery, Shaelea suffers tremors down her right side. “I was paralysed down my right side and I had to learn to walk and function again,” Shaelea said. “The doctors say I have an abnormal glioma tumour,” Shaelea said before Bill added, “If you Google that it means brain cancer, but doctors aren’t saying that to us.” Now 16 and facing the prospect of being on medication for the rest of her life, Shaelea regards her condition in true teenager-style. “I don’t have anything wrong. I just want to get my drivers’ licence on 16 October,” she said. “I get tired pretty easily now. I still work a couple of days a week at Coolamon Chinese because I’m the on-call waitress.” News of the Randall’s plight travelled quickly and close friends Holly and Dan Cartwright have organised a major fundraising day on 25 August at the Coolamon Sport and Recreation Club. Titled More than Words and running from 10.00am to 10.00pm, it will include a performance by Shaelea and live music
Shop 26a - Marketplace Shopping Centre 87 Baylis Street WAGGA WAGGA NSW 2650
featuring Genevieve Chadwick, Pete Gare, Wagga based band, Old Skool and many others. There will be market stalls, food vans, a jumping castle from Echuca activities for kids and an auction of donated items as well as raffles. Donations for the raffles have begun pouring in from across the country and locals are rallying to help the family who aren’t used to being on the other side of charity. “The Randall’s do so much for others,” Holly said. “We wanted to help and we just sent out emails and so many people have answered the call.” The family’s troubles aren’t over, but the community’s support has eased what has been a terrible burden. “I’m very honoured that the community is coming out to support us, but we are a private family and this is something we wish we weren’t dealing with,” Bill said. “We’ve been in the Rural Fire Service.
We help others but to be in this position it’s both humbling and uncomfortable having to get help. Whatever help we receive now, we plan to repay somehow.” This week, Bill travelled to Sydney to trial a new medicine designed to stop the disease progression which has extended to his arms and legs and is breaking down muscle tissue. Bill now has rheumatoid arthritis but is looking forward to celebrating his 20th anniversary with Maggie in November. “My wife Maggie is my rock,” he said. “She has been through breast cancer herself so she’s been an amazing support.” As well as this, Bill said he is inspired when he sees children worse off than him. “Whenever I got to the cancer ward for treatment, I see the kids. These kids are so sick and yet they can still smile so it’s made me think, I’ve had 47 years of life, I don’t have the right to feel down and out,” Bill said.
Bill and Shaelea Randall.
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