Angels on the Green
AS Paul Gearon sits and waits, wondering if an angel contemplates his fate, the terminally ill man is looking for one bucket list wish to come true.
To meet the man who sang the lyrics.
The Irish-born Grovedale resident has been a Robbie Williams fan for as long as he can remember. Mr Gearon loves the singer’s “colourful personality” and mix of entertaining and reflective songs.
Lately, he says the hit song Angels has somewhat mirrored his life and has helped him reflect on how he lives.
His wish is for Williams to bring him up on stage and sing a duet of Angels at Saturday’s Day on the Green performance at Mt Duneed Winery.
Mr Gearon was diagnosed with stage three stomach cancer in 2015 after telling his GP he had suddenly lost a significant amount of weight.
Doctors initially found a blockage that led to a cancer diagnosis.
The father had three-quarters of his stomach, and some lymph nodes removed. He had tickets to Williams’s show but spent the concert night on the operating table.
Mr Gearon, who was treated by St John of God Hospital and Andrew Love Centre staff, went into remission. In remission, he and fiancee Lorraine Fimmel went to Dublin where they saw Williams live.
“I said to my family I’d visit them if they got me Robbie tickets, and they did,” he said.
The pair, who met in 2011, bonded over Williams’s songs. At the time Ms Fimmel was mourning the loss of her partner in a car crash and Mr Gearon was recovering from a relationship break up.
He said the Dublin show was the best he had attended.
“The Irish crowd was amazing,” Mr Gearon said.
But then last October he fell ill.
“We were in Queensland on a holiday and I went yellow,” he said.
“They found a tumour on my bile duct.”
Tests revealed Mr Gearon’s cancer was back, it had spread and he had stage four cancer.
Doctors gave him months to live, but he never gave up hope.
His doctor helped him access an immunotherapy trial Nivolumab at Ballarat. Mr Gearon said the drug stimulated the immune system to self-attack the cancer cells.
He has the treatment fortnightly — the trial could go for 24 months — but only if his tumour does not grow.
He and Ms Fimmel loved Williams’s Melbourne show last weekend and have booked tickets for Saturday’s Geelong Day on the Green show.
“I would just love to meet Robbie, he ticks all the boxes — he’s out there,” he said.
“I don’t what I’d say — probably just, ‘ G’day Robbie, you’re a great singer’.”