When Mick and his mates lined up in full costume for their 2024 Big Red Bash RFDS fundraising ‘Drag Race’, the smiles on their faces said it all. For Mick, it was his third BRB experience, and his mate’s wife Jodie had spent months creating their incredible ‘Priscilla – Queen of the Desert’ costumes. After making the finals and some RFDS photo fame, Mick and his group enjoyed the Birdsville festivities, before making plans to pack up camp and deal with some ongoing car troubles. Just 24 hours later Mick was on an RFDS plane, headed to Mt Isa, with a suspected spinal injury. After suffering an awkward fall from his van, Mick had woken up paralysed, suffering from amnesia and uncertain how or when he even made it into his campervan. Later, he and his doctors would piece together the likely scenario of what might have happened to Mick. Somehow, Mick had fallen from his van, hitting his head and triggering a temporary spinal cord injury from his existing cervical issues. His neurosurgeon would explain this extreme physical reaction to Mick’s fall, as a 'trauma induced auto response from the body, that triggered his brain and spine to go into protection mode'. It is likely these heightened traumatic symptoms were what caused Mick's temporary paralysis and amnesia.
After years of travelling all around Australia with his wife, Debbie - including two extensive road trips in 2017 and 2022 to Cape York and even a visit to some of Australia’s most extreme locations, such as Otton Point and Steep Point - Mick aptly describes himself as, 'just a bloke with his Akubra, red dust and a bush TV (camp fire) and lovely wife. " What else does a man need?" But a long career as a police officer has also left a physical and mental toll on Mick. After being involved in three high speed motor vehicle accidents and a range of frontline incidents, the husband and father suffers from chronic neck and back injuries, along with PTSD. These chronic conditions, combined with an awkward fall, were the likely reason why Mick became temporarily paralysed that night. So after a 4WD trip to the Birdsville medical clinic, Mick was airlifted by the RFDS to ‘THE ISA’ (aka Mt Isa Hospital) for further treatment.
While Mick's spinal treatments and chronic pain issues are ongoing, he is determined to stay positive about his recovery and his recent, unexpected RFDS encounter. But he also genuinely hopes his experience and story helps to raise awareness about the importance of both physical and mental health care services in the bush. “As a former cop and having many friends in the bush, I am all too familiar with the physical and mental health access issues faced by those living in remote Australia. So many people living in urban based areas simply can't comprehend how large and remote this country of ours really is. Our rural and outback communities are truly the backbone of Australia. Before our outback trip, my mates didn’t even realise the significance of the (many) painted blue trees scattered around the outback. They didn’t know that it was to raise awareness for mental health in the bush. Travelling in 2017 and 2022 to Cape York I was always driving across random RFDS landing strips in remote locations. But little did I know that I'd one day end up strapped to a stretcher in an RFDS plane, on my way to Mt Isa!"
