Songs that Relate to my Recovery Journey

I can listen to any music and enjoy it. However, when I was going through the very early stages of this journey after I collapsed at Warnbro train station in Perth, Australia, on January 27th 2017, I could do nothing but lay in bed or on the couch. I lost my eyesight and the ability to walk, so all I could do was listen to music, the radio or maybe a movie on TV which I remembered well. It was then that I started thinking about the possibility of doing something positive with this experience – using it to help others after I got back on my feet…

I started thinking about how I could do it… What that ‘something’ might look like…

After I had my surgery on January 27th 2017, I spent weeks in Sir Charles Gairdner hospital – who were amazing by the way – and Osbourne Park Rehabilitation hospital. I came up with the idea of speaking to kids at schools about dealing with their own problems. However, this was only the beginning it would be years before I was able to get started.

One of things that I thought it would be useful to talk about were the things that helped to keep me happy, calm, focused and grounded. I would tell the kids that they needed to find their own things that brought all these feelings to their own minds.

The music that I listened to over my whole journey was very important for my state of mind. I have now linked a song that aptly reflects my mindset to each stage of my post January 27 2017 journey - the date of my collapse.

This is why those songs are relevant to me.

1) These Days – After I lost my eye sight and my ability to walk, all I could do was lay in my bed and listen to the radio or music at home, waiting for my life saving brain surgery. This was not how I saw my life going…

2) If today was your last day – When I was told about the risks involved with brain surgery… That there was a 1 in 3 chance that during or after my surgery I could have a stroke, a seizure an aneurism or a brain bleed and that if the issue was big enough it would kill me. I took this to mean that when having brain surgery there was a 1 in 3 chance of death.

3) It’s a long way to the top – My surgeons told me that there was no guarantee that I would get back to being the person that I was before I was assaulted and if I did achieve that goal it would not be a quick journey it would take years. If it ever happened at all. It has been over 8 years since my 2017 brain surgery and I’ve had 2 brain surgeries/procedures since then, (June 21, 2022), I have climbed mountains and glaciers in the UK and Switzerland since then but I still don’t feel like I’m back to being the person I was before I was assaulted at work. My recovery journey is ongoing…

4) It’s My Life – This song is for now. Despite everything I have been through in my life - the brain injury and all the brain surgeries and procedures, the assaults, my knee injuries and the 2 reconstructions, my facial reconstruction and all the other minor surgeries, I have to live my life. I cannot let the fear of what may or may not happen stop me from living a full life.

5) You’ll never walk alone – I have learnt over my entire life, but especially since I collapsed at a train station in 2017, that the people in your life who walk beside you through your good and bad times are so important. There is always someone that you can turn to. For me that was my family – especially my parents – and my closest friends.