Nick says thank you with bullock funds
When he returned to the yards last week, his interest was in a bullock he was selling to raise funds for the people that kept him alive.
Nick still struggles to talk about how lucky he feels and how grateful he is to the people that helped him on the day of his heart attack and the weeks following.
His gesture to sell a bullock to raise funds for Ambulance Victoria, West Gippsland Hospital and Monash Health Foundation was the least he could to.
Tears well in his eyes at the thought of what “could have been” if the three health organisations did not do their jobs. “They kept me alive.”
Nick suffered a heart attack while home alone at his Warragul home.
He had been to his Darnum property checking cows when he noticed he wasn’t feeling well and put it down to a muscle spasm.
He took it easy for the rest of the day and said he was feeling ok.
The following day Nick was again at the farm when he noticed he was short of breath and not well.
He went to the doctors, had an ECG, scan and x-rays and was placed on medication while waiting for an angiogram scheduled at Monash on December 8.
Two weeks later, similar symptoms returned when he was at the farm with his cattle.
Nick went home to lay on the couch. As the ache in his head and chest worsened he decided to unlock the front door and ring triple zero.
Nick struggled to say his address to the phone attendant before collapsing.
When he came to, paramedics were with him, asking his name and tending to him.
Nick was taken to West Gippsland Hospital and the following day was at Monash for the angiogram.
“I woke up to be told, you’re not going home. You’re like a time bomb at the moment,” he said.
Nick, 73, said he has been as “fit as a fiddle all my life.”
He said the triple bypass will give him a long life ahead.
As a gesture of thanks, funds from the bullock recently sold by Nick will be now divided between the three organisations.
The 585kg Holstein bullock was bought by Brad Peel of Midfield Meats for $2.53/kg, raising $1481.22 for the three organisations.
“He was a good animal,” said Nick, “and I wanted to do something for them.”
“I just can’t repay them for what they’ve done. If they hadn’t come I mightn’t be here,” he said.
With recovery going well, Nick is keen to get back to his farm where he has a few beef cattle for a hobby and back to the saleyards where he loves to keep an eye on the market and have a chat with all the regulars.