Banana Man’s amazing story of survival

MOST people would take the next day off if they had been struck in the head by a falling tree – but not the Gold Coast’s very own ‘Banana Man’.

Kev Gilbert, 58, who sells bananas at the Carrara Markets each weekend from his Chillingham plot, was knocked momentarily unconscious last Saturday night by a tree which crashed through his caravan’s roof during heavy storms.

If the tree had struck Mr Gilbert’s head two inches to the left or right – he may have been killed.

But he wasn’t, so he simply woke up early the next morning to head out to the markets like any other Sunday.

“I had seven stitches in my head … at 9.30pm at night on Saturday I went to hospital and left about midnight,” he said. “I’m lucky I got out alive.”

It’s not the first time Mr Gilbert has had a lucky escape, managing to build a life again from scratch after his farm was flooded a few years ago, which left him bankrupt.

Daughter Shelby Gilbert, 21, said her stoic father had lived out of a tent for years on a neighbour’s farm as he grew bananas again, before purchasing a caravana year ago.

But now he must start from scratch once again.

The storm flattened his caravan, one of his cars was written off, the other damaged but still drivable, and a shed on the property was also destroyed.