REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Saturday April 23-24, 2005

CRITICALLY-ill former Queensland premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen surprised doctors by rallying as officials started planning his funeral.

Doctors and nurses at the South Burnett Community Private Hospital at Kingaroy in southeast Queensland feared Sir Joh was close to death after he stopped breathing.

His wife Lady Flo said family members gathered at the hospital to say goodbye, but late yesterday the 94-year-old’s condition improved.

”He stopped breathing but, believe it or not, the old heart is still ticking along,” Lady Flo said.

She said she had been told by Sir Joh’s doctor, Isabelle Jonsson, that if he had not been suffering supranuclear palsy he would have lived to well over 100.

”I suppose that’s the hard work he did as a young man. He had polio of course when he was young, but he worked hard for years and then of course he went into parliament, and he worked hard there and he’s been a pretty good worker all his life,” she said.

Sir Joh, who was admitted to hospital a week, has repeatedly stopped breathing over the past two days.

Sir Joh’s doctor Isabelle Jonsson, who had been looking after the former premier’s health for the previous six years, said he was rewriting the textbooks.

“In medical terms I think he is just absolutely amazing,” she said.

”He defies just about anything. One would have expected he would have gone ages ago, but he just keeps making a comeback.”

Despite rallying briefly, he died later the same day.