June 9, 2025 • 18 mins
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Josh and Emma, good morning, Good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Okay, so we got you both in here. So to
remind everyone, Josh rang up and played double or nothing
very badly.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Did you get any money from that?
Speaker 4 (00:13):
I got to the eight hundred dollar question and it
was a multiple choice and I didn't even come up
with an ab receipt.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
I had a brain fart.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I did, indeed, a big one.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
It was what you'd said before we got your playing,
is that you were trying to win some money to
do some memory making with your family because you've got
terminal cancer.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
It's correct, yes, And then it.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Started an avalanche of gifts, didn't It didn't. Oh, it's
starting to cry already.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Was it a horrendous day?
Speaker 4 (00:43):
I mean not horrendous as in a bad way, but
in terms of just the madness of it. It just
like snowballed from the failed eight hundred dollar question turned
into literally there, like I said, an avalanche of generosity
from the old coast and the listeners and the station
as well.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
So you've got a whole bunch of stuff that you
got to do. What have you done and what have
you enjoyed doing? Your bucket list?
Speaker 1 (01:10):
It's got the list?
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Yeah, Look, we had this funny The day I rang
was a Thursday. The following day was actually my birthday,
and with that we're able to go that night to
Draculas for their latest show.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Yeah, so we went headed down there.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
That was my wife and our daughters and their partners,
so it was a great night. We've had a brunch
compliments of the Harvest Food House at Rabina, so they
were very generous and again it was a cast of thousands,
not really maybe six of us or so who were
down there for a lovely brunch. A couple of weeks
ago we had a spectacular dinner at one eight Japanese
(01:53):
Restaurantese restaurant in Labrador.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
There that was just like next level amazing it is,
isn't it.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
It's kind of like stayed of the art stuff, world class.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
And I wasn't really up for it, but the kids
had a great time at game over as well. Still
had a couple to go. We still would to go
and state the Vibe Hotel for overnight. Our ow jet
Boating have very generously donated a jet boat ride and
we've got the Crama and Wildlife Park who have given
(02:26):
us an entry for the day. And then to go back,
not necessarily that same day, but at a different time
if it suits to do their night.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Walk the astrolumina.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Yes, yeah, so that'd be a beautiful thing to do.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
And you've got a lucky You got lucky with a listener,
a listener that just came well, well, I say you
got like we got lucky because we were moved and
touched by them. They called up and donated your ten
thousand dollars ten grand.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
Yep, that was insane. I had a phone call from
Mon from here who asked me would I be happy
to give out my bank account number? And I figured, well,
she's that's Mon from Hot Tomato. It's not someone from
some dodgy somewhere. I'm sure I.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Get to know it.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
You wouldn't have given its cars.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
She made that a bill pay.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
I didn't give her a pin give him my pins.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
It was like, and she said there was a listener
who wanted to make a donation so that we could
do something nice. Now I'm thinking of, you know, fifty dollars,
a hundred bucks, that'd be lovely. Suddenly my phone dings
and there's a deposit in the bank for ten thousand dollars.
And it was insane. You know, I heard it. Emma
(03:43):
was in Emma works from home. There there was screams
from her office because the same notification came up at
her end.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
You know what, Well, these things happened from time to
time through radio, but I don't I can't remember anything
so quickly and being so much in all of our
time in radio. That's just a one off.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
So what did you do with that ten thousand?
Speaker 4 (04:06):
We've had a couple of trips the Sunshine Coast, which
has been a little sort We've only lived up here
for just the end of this year, it'll be six years.
We moved that from Tazzy the end of twenty nineteen.
Sunshine Coast has become a favorite little sort of getaway destination.
So we've been up there a couple of times. And
(04:26):
I also bought some jewelry for the girls and for Emma,
which in the form of signet rings that were handmade,
which actually have my fingerprint on them the top in
the flat part of the ring.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
That's clever.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
So that's something that they mean they can open your phone.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
It's funny. Some of the chemotherapy drugs I'm taking.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
The effect is you lose your fingerprints?
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Do you really.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
S That's a good plot in a movie.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Who did it? Someone who's really sick?
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Which is often quoted.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
I had getting quick and make sure that I could
do the princes.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
And send it off and have them made.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
So now the reason we've got you in here, though,
was I guess to say thank you for all of that.
But you've had some sad news too.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
A couple of weeks ago I had a scan and
the tumor that I had, I've had a sorry, the
tumor is metastasized to my liver, and that liver tumor
has grown. It wasn't responding to the chemotherapy that I
was having, and it's pushing now on other organs and
(05:40):
things and causing a rather large amount of pain. I
also have a really large earning of it.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Obviously I can see that radio.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
So that's a that's a nuisance and it can't be
operated on. So but the thing with the cancer is
that the my oncologist has said, I've got this was
a month ago or so three to maybe maximum six
months to each other.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
So you know that was a and an increased pain
as well. So in that time it's going to increase.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
It is.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
And I'm literally standing here now, I can feel it,
feel the pain. It's constant to make a movement. It
feels like a dagger going in. Just standing still, I
can just feel it. Anyway, I'm getting a bit used
to it, maybe, But I'm having a procedure later this
week which hopefully makes a difference. And it's a like
a nerve block similar. It's an overnight stay in hospital,
(06:37):
but they inject alcohol into under CT scan into the
bunch of nerves that are in there around the tumor,
and that effectively kills off the nerves in.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
That area for a period of time.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
Yeah, I think a couple of months, so you know,
on paper, that's all I needed.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
That's as long as I needed to. But it will.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
Stop the pain and then reset the whole pain relief process,
and I go through At the moment, I'm taking a
bunch of drugs throughout the day of pain relief.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
I'm wearing patches that release and all throughout the day.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Just makes everything tougher. If you're not feeling well, even
know it's you know, you're thinking, okay, I've only got
the short time you want to feel well in it.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
Well, you know, I was coming in to have a
chat with you guys last week, but you know, I
woke up and just felt.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
A horrible, terrible lot of pain and literally can get
out of bed.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
But that lasted for that day, and then the next
day was up and about. I love playing golf and
play golf with a few guys every week, same bunch,
and I try to do that as much as possible.
But you know, now I know my limits, and you know,
you can't do everything that I wanted to do or
(08:03):
everything that I've done in the past. But I'm still
trying to sort of push through and tick off things
along the way and just keep things, try to keep
things as normal as possible.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
What about you, Emma, Like, there's two journeys here. There's
the one that Josh is having immediately himself, but then
his loved ones are having a different journey. Yeah, they're
on the same bus. They're just sitting somewhere different. Yeah,
how are you going?
Speaker 5 (08:32):
Look, I'm up and down. You know, some days are
better than others. It's it's kind of surreal in a way.
Like it you know, you're just going about normal life, working,
doing normal things and you, it's sort of in the
back of your mind. But then something bizarre ll happen,
(08:53):
like someone will say something about Christmas and you think,
oh my god, Josh probably won't be here at Christmas,
and so then it sort of hits you, and you know,
then you have your moments, were just burst into tears
and yeah, it's really.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Having to prepare for that, almost, aren't you.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (09:10):
But you know, one of the things that someone very
wise said to me is no, it wasn't I said
something very wise.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
Not very white.
Speaker 5 (09:26):
Yeah, they said they were telling me about this thing
called antissiper tree grief. And you know, when you know
that something is coming, like someone's going to die, that
you grieve for that before it's happened. And they said,
try not to do that. Try and live in the
moment and enjoy it, because otherwise the time that you
(09:49):
have left together, you'll just be grieving. You know, wait
and try and do that later.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Geez, I've never heard that before. That's a really interesting
thought to share. I'm sure a lot of people needed
to hear that.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
Yeah, I mean, we, like Josh said, we're just trying
to keep it as normal as possible, particularly you know
with our girls.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
How are they again?
Speaker 5 (10:13):
Nineteen and twenty one, so they're not little, but you
know the other wants to leave, lose their dad.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
That's right, they're going to miss out dad walking them
down the aisle, things like.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
That, exactly.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
I and our eldest Hannah got engaged three four weeks ago. Yeah,
to the lovely Mac. I have to mention him, and
you know that that was great, great day, great news.
You know, he's look at the rock, all that sort
of thing. They're all sort of having that conversation and
I just sort of literally took a step back and
(10:46):
I was like, Okay, yeah, that's all fantastic, but my.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Mind moved to the wedding.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
Yeah, and that you know, I won't be there, and
it's not going to be Hannah and I going down
that aisle.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
At the beginning.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
If she's engaged, why can't she get married in the
next month.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
She's twenty one. Yeah, you know, look, I don't want
them to do something like that but potentially come back
and bite them.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
I would say, go do it, but I also got
married at twenty one and that didn't work out.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
She's not a great role model for.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
And I've both been married before.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
Yeah, and you know, in the a similar sort of
age bracket in that.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Regress, Tasmanians to get married early, don't we.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Sometimes it's a shotgun.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
But I mean Emma and I were destined because we
were actually in kindergarten and kinder together at school in
Hobart in nineteen seventy four was when we met and
then went out with each other in year ten, went
off and married different people, married married different people obviously,
and then rekindled all that back in the early two thousand,
(12:01):
so twenty something years ago.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
So I'm not a.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
Fan of the early marriage, i'd say from Hannah's point
of view. So when you use this, I've.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Made it public.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Make you too young, good luck, Mac, no pressure when
you're just turning up for Sunday roast.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Yeah, it's it, that's right.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
Yeah, just hanging there and yeah, they'll be right.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
But it's those sort of things, you know.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
My mind skips ahead to when X, Y or Z
is going to potentially happen, and I won't be there
for it. I can imagine what it'll be like, but
you know, there'll be a I guess maybe an empty
seat at the table or you know.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Whatever but I can't imagine how you're doing it. To
be honest, you're showing a lot of strength, but yeah,
just being the sentimental side of it, you can't help it.
You whilst've been strong, you know, we all romanticize on
how things are going to go. Yeah, and I props
to you for being so strong for your family.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Look, people have said you don't look sick. You know,
you don't.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
You don't look sick, you don't sound sick. You don't
act sick, you know, And that's that's true. I mean,
it's not an act. I'm not trying to cover it up.
But there are times when I do look sick and
I do. You know, it's obvious when I know when
I can't do things and stuff. But it's like it's
like I said earlier, it's just like trying to just
(13:21):
get on and do things and not let it rule me.
You know, I'm trying to just it's always there. It's
always in my mind and at the front of my
mind because it's inevitable and it's obvious to me. But
at the end of the day, it's just literally, you know,
to make the most of what you've got and that
(13:43):
you know, you don't know what you've got to go on,
all those sorts of they'll start singing in a minute,
but you know, it really is like that. And don't
don't let an opportunity pass, you know, if you think
that's like I'll do it next week, well and next
week you may not be here now. It could be
something like I've got or it could just be that
proverbial bus coming around the corner. You know, you just
(14:03):
don't know. And I didn't know when I was diagnosed.
It was coming up to the anniversary of that for
two years ago. I went to the doctor with a
pain in my abdomen, which I thought was something else
that I'd had before, and I was sent off for
a CT. Pancreatic cancer is very difficult to diagnose because
the symptoms don't really rear their head until you're potentially
(14:28):
in stage three or stage four, which is, you know,
pretty much the end of the road sort of time.
I was lucky in a sense that I was able
to be diagnosed when I was and have an operation
to remove various things to think called a Whipple's procedure.
Don't google it if you've got a week's stomach, because
(14:48):
it's you lose a lot of things out of your stomach.
Out of that area, a lot of organs come out.
I lost thirty kilos. It's not a diet plan i'd recommend.
But I was in ICU for eight weeks. I was
in the hospital. What was meant to be a ten
days stinting hospital turned into exactly seventy.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Days plus visits back.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Return visits to different things different. I had a few
things sort of burst and go wrong inside and had
emergency situations where I've had to be sort of fairly
rapidly attended to and put back together. So I've defied
those sort of things, and I'm determined to defy the
three to six month thing. Whether it's six months and
(15:32):
one day or another two years, I don't know, but
I'll give it a red hot guy.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
And you just kind of wanted to come in and
say thanks.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Didn't you look?
Speaker 4 (15:39):
Like I said early on? We were so overwhelmed on
that day, you know, I was kicking myself. I got
the eight hundred dollars question wrong. I can't even tell
you what it was. I've just blocked it out of
my mind. But my goodness, how that day turned literally
just on itself. In such a short period of time,
and the generosity of the station, you guys in mine,
(16:01):
and the listeners, the businesses and the individuals, and of
course obviously that one particular individual that stands out with
that cash donation or gift. I think I'd say, but
it was a gift because it's a gifted us the
opportunity to do more things and things that we necessarily
wouldn't have been able to do in this time so overwhelming.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
If there's one message that just in short, that you'd
both like to give anyone listening, now, what would you
always be?
Speaker 1 (16:32):
First of all, Josh, I.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
Think it would be just I mean, it's a cliche,
but just make the most of every minute and make
memories that will last for those from my perspective, from
those that I leave behind, I won't have those memories obviously,
but everyone else around me will, and I just want
(16:55):
them to be ones where they can just stop and
remember and get some pleasure or joy or whatever the
situation was, just get something out of it and just
remember me for being a hopefully a good dad and
a reasonable husband.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
You have to say reasonable here?
Speaker 1 (17:14):
What about you?
Speaker 3 (17:15):
A message to anyone with what you've been going through
is this is probably a similar message, but is there
something that stands out?
Speaker 5 (17:21):
It is a similar message, and I guess it probably
sounds a bit strange, but you know, Josh said the
thing about you know, you can get hit by a bus.
I guess we're lucky in a way because a lot
of people, you know, get up and go to work
and something happens and they never come home. Although this
(17:42):
is an awful, awful situation, we're lucky that we know
and we've got that time to make the memories and
just be together, value it and value it. So yeah,
just you know, don't go to bed on an argument.
Make the most. You know, you've got to live life.
(18:03):
You can't be constantly on and making the most of
every single moment. But just really try and you know,
hold the people close to your tye.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Cry when you want to cry, and cry.
Speaker 5 (18:17):
When you want to cry.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Yeah, I want to cry.
Speaker 5 (18:19):
Now we've cried enough for everyone.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Well, thank you, appreciate you coming in.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Thank you for sharing your story and giving some perspective.
Speaker 4 (18:30):
Well, thank you very much for the opportunity, and again
thank you to the Gold.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Coast for that support. It's absolutely phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Now use the rest of those bouchers. Damn it, you've
just told us out there, get out there.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Well, good on you guys, thanks for coming in, and
all the best with the rest of this journey that
you're going on. Good luck, mate, thank you, great
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Courage, thank you.
Josh and Emma, good morning, Good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Okay, so we got you both in here. So to
remind everyone, Josh rang up and played double or nothing
very badly.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Did you get any money from that?
Speaker 4 (00:13):
I got to the eight hundred dollar question and it
was a multiple choice and I didn't even come up
with an ab receipt.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
I had a brain fart.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I did, indeed, a big one.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
It was what you'd said before we got your playing,
is that you were trying to win some money to
do some memory making with your family because you've got
terminal cancer.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
It's correct, yes, And then it.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Started an avalanche of gifts, didn't It didn't. Oh, it's
starting to cry already.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Was it a horrendous day?
Speaker 4 (00:43):
I mean not horrendous as in a bad way, but
in terms of just the madness of it. It just
like snowballed from the failed eight hundred dollar question turned
into literally there, like I said, an avalanche of generosity
from the old coast and the listeners and the station
as well.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
So you've got a whole bunch of stuff that you
got to do. What have you done and what have
you enjoyed doing? Your bucket list?
Speaker 1 (01:10):
It's got the list?
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Yeah, Look, we had this funny The day I rang
was a Thursday. The following day was actually my birthday,
and with that we're able to go that night to
Draculas for their latest show.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Yeah, so we went headed down there.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
That was my wife and our daughters and their partners,
so it was a great night. We've had a brunch
compliments of the Harvest Food House at Rabina, so they
were very generous and again it was a cast of thousands,
not really maybe six of us or so who were
down there for a lovely brunch. A couple of weeks
ago we had a spectacular dinner at one eight Japanese
(01:53):
Restaurantese restaurant in Labrador.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
There that was just like next level amazing it is,
isn't it.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
It's kind of like stayed of the art stuff, world class.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
And I wasn't really up for it, but the kids
had a great time at game over as well. Still
had a couple to go. We still would to go
and state the Vibe Hotel for overnight. Our ow jet
Boating have very generously donated a jet boat ride and
we've got the Crama and Wildlife Park who have given
(02:26):
us an entry for the day. And then to go back,
not necessarily that same day, but at a different time
if it suits to do their night.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Walk the astrolumina.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Yes, yeah, so that'd be a beautiful thing to do.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
And you've got a lucky You got lucky with a listener,
a listener that just came well, well, I say you
got like we got lucky because we were moved and
touched by them. They called up and donated your ten
thousand dollars ten grand.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
Yep, that was insane. I had a phone call from
Mon from here who asked me would I be happy
to give out my bank account number? And I figured, well,
she's that's Mon from Hot Tomato. It's not someone from
some dodgy somewhere. I'm sure I.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Get to know it.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
You wouldn't have given its cars.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
She made that a bill pay.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
I didn't give her a pin give him my pins.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
It was like, and she said there was a listener
who wanted to make a donation so that we could
do something nice. Now I'm thinking of, you know, fifty dollars,
a hundred bucks, that'd be lovely. Suddenly my phone dings
and there's a deposit in the bank for ten thousand dollars.
And it was insane. You know, I heard it. Emma
(03:43):
was in Emma works from home. There there was screams
from her office because the same notification came up at
her end.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
You know what, Well, these things happened from time to
time through radio, but I don't I can't remember anything
so quickly and being so much in all of our
time in radio. That's just a one off.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
So what did you do with that ten thousand?
Speaker 4 (04:06):
We've had a couple of trips the Sunshine Coast, which
has been a little sort We've only lived up here
for just the end of this year, it'll be six years.
We moved that from Tazzy the end of twenty nineteen.
Sunshine Coast has become a favorite little sort of getaway destination.
So we've been up there a couple of times. And
(04:26):
I also bought some jewelry for the girls and for Emma,
which in the form of signet rings that were handmade,
which actually have my fingerprint on them the top in
the flat part of the ring.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
That's clever.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
So that's something that they mean they can open your phone.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
It's funny. Some of the chemotherapy drugs I'm taking.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
The effect is you lose your fingerprints?
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Do you really.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
S That's a good plot in a movie.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Who did it? Someone who's really sick?
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Which is often quoted.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
I had getting quick and make sure that I could
do the princes.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
And send it off and have them made.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
So now the reason we've got you in here, though,
was I guess to say thank you for all of that.
But you've had some sad news too.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
A couple of weeks ago I had a scan and
the tumor that I had, I've had a sorry, the
tumor is metastasized to my liver, and that liver tumor
has grown. It wasn't responding to the chemotherapy that I
was having, and it's pushing now on other organs and
(05:40):
things and causing a rather large amount of pain. I
also have a really large earning of it.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Obviously I can see that radio.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
So that's a that's a nuisance and it can't be
operated on. So but the thing with the cancer is
that the my oncologist has said, I've got this was
a month ago or so three to maybe maximum six
months to each other.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
So you know that was a and an increased pain
as well. So in that time it's going to increase.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
It is.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
And I'm literally standing here now, I can feel it,
feel the pain. It's constant to make a movement. It
feels like a dagger going in. Just standing still, I
can just feel it. Anyway, I'm getting a bit used
to it, maybe, But I'm having a procedure later this
week which hopefully makes a difference. And it's a like
a nerve block similar. It's an overnight stay in hospital,
(06:37):
but they inject alcohol into under CT scan into the
bunch of nerves that are in there around the tumor,
and that effectively kills off the nerves in.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
That area for a period of time.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
Yeah, I think a couple of months, so you know,
on paper, that's all I needed.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
That's as long as I needed to. But it will.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
Stop the pain and then reset the whole pain relief process,
and I go through At the moment, I'm taking a
bunch of drugs throughout the day of pain relief.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
I'm wearing patches that release and all throughout the day.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Just makes everything tougher. If you're not feeling well, even
know it's you know, you're thinking, okay, I've only got
the short time you want to feel well in it.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
Well, you know, I was coming in to have a
chat with you guys last week, but you know, I
woke up and just felt.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
A horrible, terrible lot of pain and literally can get
out of bed.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
But that lasted for that day, and then the next
day was up and about. I love playing golf and
play golf with a few guys every week, same bunch,
and I try to do that as much as possible.
But you know, now I know my limits, and you know,
you can't do everything that I wanted to do or
(08:03):
everything that I've done in the past. But I'm still
trying to sort of push through and tick off things
along the way and just keep things, try to keep
things as normal as possible.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
What about you, Emma, Like, there's two journeys here. There's
the one that Josh is having immediately himself, but then
his loved ones are having a different journey. Yeah, they're
on the same bus. They're just sitting somewhere different. Yeah,
how are you going?
Speaker 5 (08:32):
Look, I'm up and down. You know, some days are
better than others. It's it's kind of surreal in a way.
Like it you know, you're just going about normal life, working,
doing normal things and you, it's sort of in the
back of your mind. But then something bizarre ll happen,
(08:53):
like someone will say something about Christmas and you think,
oh my god, Josh probably won't be here at Christmas,
and so then it sort of hits you, and you know,
then you have your moments, were just burst into tears
and yeah, it's really.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Having to prepare for that, almost, aren't you.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (09:10):
But you know, one of the things that someone very
wise said to me is no, it wasn't I said
something very wise.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
Not very white.
Speaker 5 (09:26):
Yeah, they said they were telling me about this thing
called antissiper tree grief. And you know, when you know
that something is coming, like someone's going to die, that
you grieve for that before it's happened. And they said,
try not to do that. Try and live in the
moment and enjoy it, because otherwise the time that you
(09:49):
have left together, you'll just be grieving. You know, wait
and try and do that later.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Geez, I've never heard that before. That's a really interesting
thought to share. I'm sure a lot of people needed
to hear that.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
Yeah, I mean, we, like Josh said, we're just trying
to keep it as normal as possible, particularly you know
with our girls.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
How are they again?
Speaker 5 (10:13):
Nineteen and twenty one, so they're not little, but you
know the other wants to leave, lose their dad.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
That's right, they're going to miss out dad walking them
down the aisle, things like.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
That, exactly.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
I and our eldest Hannah got engaged three four weeks ago. Yeah,
to the lovely Mac. I have to mention him, and
you know that that was great, great day, great news.
You know, he's look at the rock, all that sort
of thing. They're all sort of having that conversation and
I just sort of literally took a step back and
(10:46):
I was like, Okay, yeah, that's all fantastic, but my.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Mind moved to the wedding.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
Yeah, and that you know, I won't be there, and
it's not going to be Hannah and I going down
that aisle.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
At the beginning.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
If she's engaged, why can't she get married in the
next month.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
She's twenty one. Yeah, you know, look, I don't want
them to do something like that but potentially come back
and bite them.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
I would say, go do it, but I also got
married at twenty one and that didn't work out.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
She's not a great role model for.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
And I've both been married before.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
Yeah, and you know, in the a similar sort of
age bracket in that.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Regress, Tasmanians to get married early, don't we.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
Sometimes it's a shotgun.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
But I mean Emma and I were destined because we
were actually in kindergarten and kinder together at school in
Hobart in nineteen seventy four was when we met and
then went out with each other in year ten, went
off and married different people, married married different people obviously,
and then rekindled all that back in the early two thousand,
(12:01):
so twenty something years ago.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
So I'm not a.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
Fan of the early marriage, i'd say from Hannah's point
of view. So when you use this, I've.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Made it public.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Make you too young, good luck, Mac, no pressure when
you're just turning up for Sunday roast.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Yeah, it's it, that's right.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
Yeah, just hanging there and yeah, they'll be right.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
But it's those sort of things, you know.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
My mind skips ahead to when X, Y or Z
is going to potentially happen, and I won't be there
for it. I can imagine what it'll be like, but
you know, there'll be a I guess maybe an empty
seat at the table or you know.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Whatever but I can't imagine how you're doing it. To
be honest, you're showing a lot of strength, but yeah,
just being the sentimental side of it, you can't help it.
You whilst've been strong, you know, we all romanticize on
how things are going to go. Yeah, and I props
to you for being so strong for your family.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Look, people have said you don't look sick. You know,
you don't.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
You don't look sick, you don't sound sick. You don't
act sick, you know, And that's that's true. I mean,
it's not an act. I'm not trying to cover it up.
But there are times when I do look sick and
I do. You know, it's obvious when I know when
I can't do things and stuff. But it's like it's
like I said earlier, it's just like trying to just
(13:21):
get on and do things and not let it rule me.
You know, I'm trying to just it's always there. It's
always in my mind and at the front of my
mind because it's inevitable and it's obvious to me. But
at the end of the day, it's just literally, you know,
to make the most of what you've got and that
(13:43):
you know, you don't know what you've got to go on,
all those sorts of they'll start singing in a minute,
but you know, it really is like that. And don't
don't let an opportunity pass, you know, if you think
that's like I'll do it next week, well and next
week you may not be here now. It could be
something like I've got or it could just be that
proverbial bus coming around the corner. You know, you just
(14:03):
don't know. And I didn't know when I was diagnosed.
It was coming up to the anniversary of that for
two years ago. I went to the doctor with a
pain in my abdomen, which I thought was something else
that I'd had before, and I was sent off for
a CT. Pancreatic cancer is very difficult to diagnose because
the symptoms don't really rear their head until you're potentially
(14:28):
in stage three or stage four, which is, you know,
pretty much the end of the road sort of time.
I was lucky in a sense that I was able
to be diagnosed when I was and have an operation
to remove various things to think called a Whipple's procedure.
Don't google it if you've got a week's stomach, because
(14:48):
it's you lose a lot of things out of your stomach.
Out of that area, a lot of organs come out.
I lost thirty kilos. It's not a diet plan i'd recommend.
But I was in ICU for eight weeks. I was
in the hospital. What was meant to be a ten
days stinting hospital turned into exactly seventy.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Days plus visits back.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Return visits to different things different. I had a few
things sort of burst and go wrong inside and had
emergency situations where I've had to be sort of fairly
rapidly attended to and put back together. So I've defied
those sort of things, and I'm determined to defy the
three to six month thing. Whether it's six months and
(15:32):
one day or another two years, I don't know, but
I'll give it a red hot guy.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
And you just kind of wanted to come in and
say thanks.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Didn't you look?
Speaker 4 (15:39):
Like I said early on? We were so overwhelmed on
that day, you know, I was kicking myself. I got
the eight hundred dollars question wrong. I can't even tell
you what it was. I've just blocked it out of
my mind. But my goodness, how that day turned literally
just on itself. In such a short period of time,
and the generosity of the station, you guys in mine,
(16:01):
and the listeners, the businesses and the individuals, and of
course obviously that one particular individual that stands out with
that cash donation or gift. I think I'd say, but
it was a gift because it's a gifted us the
opportunity to do more things and things that we necessarily
wouldn't have been able to do in this time so overwhelming.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
If there's one message that just in short, that you'd
both like to give anyone listening, now, what would you
always be?
Speaker 1 (16:32):
First of all, Josh, I.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
Think it would be just I mean, it's a cliche,
but just make the most of every minute and make
memories that will last for those from my perspective, from
those that I leave behind, I won't have those memories obviously,
but everyone else around me will, and I just want
(16:55):
them to be ones where they can just stop and
remember and get some pleasure or joy or whatever the
situation was, just get something out of it and just
remember me for being a hopefully a good dad and
a reasonable husband.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
You have to say reasonable here?
Speaker 1 (17:14):
What about you?
Speaker 3 (17:15):
A message to anyone with what you've been going through
is this is probably a similar message, but is there
something that stands out?
Speaker 5 (17:21):
It is a similar message, and I guess it probably
sounds a bit strange, but you know, Josh said the
thing about you know, you can get hit by a bus.
I guess we're lucky in a way because a lot
of people, you know, get up and go to work
and something happens and they never come home. Although this
(17:42):
is an awful, awful situation, we're lucky that we know
and we've got that time to make the memories and
just be together, value it and value it. So yeah,
just you know, don't go to bed on an argument.
Make the most. You know, you've got to live life.
(18:03):
You can't be constantly on and making the most of
every single moment. But just really try and you know,
hold the people close to your tye.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Cry when you want to cry, and cry.
Speaker 5 (18:17):
When you want to cry.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Yeah, I want to cry.
Speaker 5 (18:19):
Now we've cried enough for everyone.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Well, thank you, appreciate you coming in.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Thank you for sharing your story and giving some perspective.
Speaker 4 (18:30):
Well, thank you very much for the opportunity, and again
thank you to the Gold.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Coast for that support. It's absolutely phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Now use the rest of those bouchers. Damn it, you've
just told us out there, get out there.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Well, good on you guys, thanks for coming in, and
all the best with the rest of this journey that
you're going on. Good luck, mate, thank you, great
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Courage, thank you.
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