Hey mate, how are you going?
Good.
Can you stand up?
Yeah.
Want to have a crack? Do you want me to – are you right?
I’m right.
Good man
Okay
How does that feel?
Good.
Alan was always a great worker, always.
He had rung me the weekend before and said “Mum I’m working really hard”.
What is your memory of that day in Queensland?
Oh God, none.
No memory at all?
No.
Who would want to remember?
On a stinking hot Queensland day Alan Byrne almost worked himself to death.
He can’t remember because he’s brain damaged from heat stroke.
Alan’s been through everything you could imagine, from being in a coma, on death’s
doorstep, to now going through a process of rehabilitation to get his life back.
G’day Alan, how are you?
Good.
What are we watching today?
These soapies again.
The days of Alan’s life are so different now.
The big, strong brickie’s labourer is back in Melbourne with his parents, Des and Bernadette.
What is it like for you two to see your son like this?
Oh, it’s heartbreaking, it’s heartbreaking, because we know what he was like and we want
him back that way, but we can’t.
What happened that day on a building site is a warning to all of us about the dangers
of heat stroke.
It was 42 degrees.
Alan had been working in the full sun all day.
He hadn’t had enough water, he hadn’t had any food, he wasn’t wearing a hat.
At 3:00 o’clock in the afternoon he started feeling sick and began walking home, five
kilometres.
He didn’t make it.
He was found unconscious at a roundabout by a bus driver, who called police.
This is in Queensland.
Said he’s critically ill, you need to get here.
But don’t come here, go to Townsville because we’re airlifting him because he’s critically
ill.
We just went into panic, we were all just shaking and crying.
When Des and Bernadette arrived at Townsville Hospital their son was in a coma.
It hit us, didn’t it?
Yeah.
We saw our son there, dying really.
They told us he was dying.
On total life support, total life support.
There wasn’t one part of his body that wasn’t on some machine.
Tell me what happened to your son’s body.
It completely shut down, everything shut down.
His body, well, it boiled, it boiled.
Even they told us the bone marrow boiled.
It was so overheated.
His body temperature was 42 degrees, that’s why he couldn’t – they said he wouldn’t live.
In Alan’s case the employer has failed to ensure that he was adequately hydrated and
protected from such extreme conditions.
Karen Simpson from Slater & Gordon in Brisbane is Alan’s lawyer.
His case is now one of Australia’s biggest WorkCover claims.
It’s certainly a catastrophic sized claim.
Because of the lack of residual earning capacity for Alan, it will result in very significant
monetary compensation for him.
One of the surgeons said “You don’t know it’s happening to you until someone comes
up behind you with a baseball bat and goes whack, and that’s it and you’re down”.
It was the capable hands of doctors in Townsville that saved Alan’s life, but then a shocking
complication.
He lost blood supply to his face and his facial bones began to dissolve.
Absolutely unusual, quite unique.
Associate Professor Andrew Heggie specialises in facial surgery.
The three major components have been replaced.
There’s the bone from the hip to replace the upper jaw.
A rib graft to reconstruct the nasal bridge and the contour.
Then subsequently these titanium implants so that a full bridge can be made to reconstruct
his jaw and bite.
What is the one thing you would like to do with your body?
Walk.
Alan’s legs are strong and capable, it’s the brain damage that’s the problem.
What are your hopes for the future?
Work.
What would you like to do for work?
Anything.
Just anything?
If you can’t work you might as well work out.
Or go shooting.
Or sailing.
What is Alan’s future?
Who knows?
You’ve got to leave all the doors open.
Who knows?
He’s still our son and he’s still absolutely beautiful.