Wheels in Motion April 2018

April 2018 Newsletter
Edition 112

Hello Friend,

Welcome to the April Edition of Wheels in Motion

I talk about my ongoing pain ....
Michelle shares her recent visit to RAAF Edinburgh and
I also share about some of my fears of travelling and where we went on our recent holiday.

If you have any questions for me or any of the Safety Speakers
please get in touch and we can have a chat.

Stay Safe Australia and the World!

Take care and look out for each other.

James Wood & The CNBSafe Team

F*#kin Pain!

I’m writing this months newsletter at 4am!
No I’m not on night shift……I have been awake since 2.30am.
I can’t sleep because it feels like my arse is on fire!

I’m in Pain!

It hurts and there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it, I’ve tried everything over the last 30 years. Drugs... Legal and illegal, alcohol and self medication, alternative therapies (Massage, acupuncture, hydrotherapy etc) Nothing works.

Apparently it’s called CRPS which stands for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome….
But actually I don’t give a shit what it is called all I know is it hurts.

But I’ve dealt with it for the last 30 years and I guess I’ll live with it for the rest of my life.

But it did make me think that there's a lot of things that none of us think about before we get hurt.
I mean if you asked me before my accident if I’d cope if I was in a wheelchair for the rest of my life I might have said "It would suck but I think I could do it".

But if you asked me "Do you think you could cope in a wheelchair for the rest of your life and 90% of the time your arse and legs will be stinging with horrible nerve pain?"

You might have got a different answer.

Part of the reason I share my story with workplaces is to let people know that getting hurt at work really hurts….. And it will hurt for the rest of your life!

Stay Safe Australia
Woody

Watch Woody's Words - Week 5 - Chronic Pain

My Greatest Fear

I travel a lot for work, recently we had a family holiday overseas. We decided that we would go to Italy and France and take my daughter to Paris Disneyland.

So they get me on the plane using a narrow "Aisle Chair" and I transfer into my seat. They then take my wheelchair and put it in the hold with the luggage.

One of my greatest fears is that my chair will get lost or damaged during the flight.

My chair is built for me, I fill out a form with my height, weight, length of my legs angle of my backrest, camber angle of the wheels, offset of the pushrims etc….

It actually "FITS" me and I will often spend 14,16,18 hours a day in it.

So if I get to my destination and it is damaged or lost I’m stuffed.

I have had a couple of chairs damaged over the years and the airline said "We will give you one of ours to use."

That doesn’t work!..... It’s a bit like putting your grandmother's undies on…. It just doesn’t fit.

Most people that read this don’t use a wheelchair, if your thongs pop out or if a shoe breaks a heel you can just go to your nearest shop and buy a new one.

If my wheelchair breaks or is lost there is a 10-12 week wait to get a new one built and a $5-8K cost.

So think about that next time your thong has a blowout.

Bonjour, Ciao’

I mentioned above we have just returned from a family holiday to Europe, here’s a few pictures of some of the things we did and saw while away.

There were a few things that I could not do but all in all it was a successful trip. I’m not going to whinge about the things I couldn’t do or places I couldn’t get to.

But I will ask you all to think about some of the ways that getting hurt might change your life and the things that you want to do with your family.

Michelle Visits RAAF Edinburgh

Recently I was invited to share ‘Alex’s Story’ with 10 Squadron and SPRSO at Defence Edinburgh SA.

From time to time, my husband Rob also attends these sessions with me (work permitting) which is support through what is a very tough subject, but it’s important for our audience to see the different impact on both parents and how we deal with the loss of our son so very differently.

Because we both did our rookies here when we joined the RAAF all those years ago, this territory was also very familiar to us and in some respects, it’s always a bit like going home. It is also made harder when speaking to an audience that knew the younger us, and now they see the changed us or weren’t prepared for what they were about to hear.

Part of Alex’s Story involves sharing just how much life has changed for our family 5 years on.
Our families story is very personal and we wear our hearts on our sleeve when presenting ‘Alex’ to those that engage us.
One session included approx. 220 defence personal and the other around 30 but the respect for us is always astounding.
By walking away at the end of the mornings presentations with tears, hugs, thank you’s although we never look for these gestures, it is clear the empathy along with the impact of our family’s story leaves many wondering how we do it!!

We do it because losing our son was not a choice, sharing his story and our grief IS a choice

If we can save lives by creating added awareness to a workers safety.

Job’s Done!

In the words of our beloved Alex, "Onwards and Upwards"

SAFETY IS EVERYONE'S RESPONSIBILITY