Showing posts with label tv interview. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tv interview. Show all posts
Sunday, 19 July 2015
Interview with Channel Seven's Today Tonight programme about NDE - Oct 09, 2008
In October 2008, Channel Seven did a second interview with me for their Today Tonight program regarding the question of NDE - Near Death Experience. Here it is.
Interview with Channel Seven Morning Show - June 6, 2008
In this brief interview with the Channel Seven Morning Show (at the 1min 30sec mark of the interview) I also make a clear reference to the fact that diabetics need to be aware that they may not have the classic symptoms when having a heart attack.
This interview took place on my first birthday after my heart attack and but for a lot of luck, great work by a couple of paramedics, doctors and nurses at Gold Coast Hospital, I would not have been around to do this interview.
This interview took place on my first birthday after my heart attack and but for a lot of luck, great work by a couple of paramedics, doctors and nurses at Gold Coast Hospital, I would not have been around to do this interview.
Sunday, 12 July 2015
Interview with Channel Seven's Today Tonight programme - June 05, 2008
Nearly a year after my heart attack I was interviewed by one of our local television stations, it was the day before my 55th birthday, a birthday I was lucky to see.
The morning of this interview, an article appeared in our local newspaper, The Bulletin, which talked about my heart attack. Soon after the edition hit the streets, I received phone calls from radio stations here on the coast where we live and in Brisbane and from TV stations asking to do an interview. This is one I did with the Channel Seven programme Today Tonight which goes to air each night after the evening news.
Thursday, 2 July 2015
Heart Foundation of Australia 'Recognize Your Heart Attack' Campaign - February, 2010
In February, 2010 I was invited by the Heart Foundation of Australia to participate in the launching of their 'Recognize Your Heart Attack' Campaign here on the Gold Coast. The launch and interview took place on the ambulance ramp to the hospital and was covered by the local newspaper and TV station.
It was indeed a privilege and honour to be asked to address those in attendance and to participate in the launch of this important campaign by the Heart Foundation. It was also a very emotional moment for me.
It was indeed a privilege and honour to be asked to address those in attendance and to participate in the launch of this important campaign by the Heart Foundation. It was also a very emotional moment for me.
More information on the can be found using these links:
Sunday, 9 November 2014
Support Groups on Facebook and Volunteering
One of the things that some of us may need after a life threatening episode is some sort of support group or a group of people who have been through a similar experience. A year or so after my heart attack I was asked be involved in creating a Heart Support group here where I live, which would be part of a national network of such groups. That was in September, 2008 and in December of that year the group was launched and I was elected Publicity/Information Officer.
Around the same time I found and joined a number of heart support groups on Facebook and became active in some contributing comments on my recovery process and trying to lend support to others going through the same recovery process that I had gone through a year earlier.
Having a background in teaching and wishing to share information, I also would post relevant items in these groups that I believed would help others understand what they had been through and what lifestyle changes they (as indeed I) made after my heart attack. And also, having dealt with depression, anxiety and panic attacks, I would talk about these - something which was not a common thing for males to do.
My greatest desire, however, in joining these groups was to spread the word that:
DIABETICS MAY NOT NECESSARILY HAVE THE CLASSIC WARNING SIGNS WHEN HAVING A HEART ATTACK.
This desire to spread this message came about after I did an interview with one of our local TV stations in which my cardiologist confirmed this message - at an earlier date we had discussed this when I had raised the question.
And it would be fair to say that the principle motivating factor for me becoming involved in creating a heart support group here where I live (and joining some Facebook groups) was to get this message out into the wider community and to also spread the word about cardiovascular disease awareness and the links between diabetes and heart disease.
In the second half of 2008, soon after the TV interview, I was invited by our cardiac rehab programme to give a talk about my recovery and rehab process which included what I did to deal with depression and lifestyle changes I made. I can vividly remember talking about not having any pain or discomfort at the time of the heart attack and seeing a number of people in the room nodding their heads in agreement. When I queried them about this they told me that they were also diabetics and had never heard of the link regarding diabetics not always having pain when having a heart attack.
The supposed one-off talk at our cardiac rehab programme became the first of many and to this day, I continue to give my talk every six weeks.
In early 2009, a month or so after the local heart support group I was involved in got off the ground, I withdrew from the group due to personal and health issues. I returned to the group around August of that year and resumed my position on the executive and made it clear that I believed that part of the direction of the group should be sharing our experiences and educating the community about CVD and heart attack warning signs. I was given a free hand to develop this.
By the end of 2010 it became clear that the primary aims of the group was to be social and to revolve around BBQ's, social outings, weekly walks and Tai Chi sessions and fund raising. It also became clear to me that reaching out to the community to spread awareness and education about CVD was not what the new leadership (nor much of the membership) was interested in and following a couple of disagreements, sadly, I walked away from the group.
I had put a lot of time into the group since it was was created and was very disappointed but felt I was knocking my head against a brick wall in trying to get the group as a whole to understand, realize that we, as survivors, had a lot to contribute to the community where we live. I tried to get the executive to see the relevance in members of our group 'getting close' to our Heart Foundation and suggested that we should look at seeing if we could provide some speakers to their volunteer speaker's programme. That proved to go down like a lead balloon!
In 2010 I fought hard to get a training program implemented where members of our group would be trained and qualify to volunteer at our local hospital to talk to people who have just had a heart event and/or maybe were awaiting surgery for a heart related issue. Again, sadly, I watched as the training course took place, and the program fell apart due to a lack of direction and commitment by the executive and those who had completed the course. To say the least I was totally disillusioned having put in over six months of effort to get the program off the ground in the first place.
After leaving the group I joined Heart Foundation of Australia and was trained up to become a volunteer speaker for the organization and and continue to be volunteer speaker today. Around the same time I also became a volunteer patient at Bond University and not long after became a volunteer patient for the Australian Institute of Ultrasound. I found pretty quickly, and easily, that there were plenty of places where I live where I could volunteer and share my experiences which is basically very much what I would have liked to have seen our local heart support group become involved in.
At the same time I became much more involved in support groups on Facebook and also decided to create items that I could use to promote CVD awareness. Here are some of these.
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I also created a Facebook page dedicated to just CVD, Heart Attack and Diabetes Awareness where I post items I feel are relevant to heart disease and diabetes:
https://www.facebook.com/CHADAwareness
I found I was able to quite readily on Facebook and in Facebook groups do what I would have liked to see our local heart support group do - spread CVD and Diabetes Awareness. I was heartened many times when comments would be made in a group by others confirming that, like me, they had not had the classic symptoms and then on reflection after some prompting they would add that they also were diabetics. Not saying that this happens to all diabetics who have a heart attack, but there is no doubt it is a common enough and as I so fervently believe, this message needs to be spread as it is clear to me that many people are not aware of this.
Following are links to a number of support groups that may be of interest to people who have had a heart event and/or diabetes:
Zipper Club: https://www.facebook.com/groups/zipperClubHeartSurgery/
Heart Attack and Stents: https://www.facebook.com/groups/632446853435296/
Survivors: https://www.facebook.com/groups/162862610420905/
Heart Attack Families and Friends: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Heartattackfamiliesandfriends/
Open-Heart Surgery. "The Zipper Club": https://www.facebook.com/groups/2256590992/
Heart Attack Survivors Unite!: https://www.facebook.com/HeartAttackSurvivorsUnite
Living with Diabetes: https://www.facebook.com/groups/livingwithdiabetes/
There are many more support groups on Facebook, the above are just some that maybe worth a visit if you or someone you know is looking for some encouragement as they deal with a heart issue or diabetes.
Around the same time I found and joined a number of heart support groups on Facebook and became active in some contributing comments on my recovery process and trying to lend support to others going through the same recovery process that I had gone through a year earlier.
Having a background in teaching and wishing to share information, I also would post relevant items in these groups that I believed would help others understand what they had been through and what lifestyle changes they (as indeed I) made after my heart attack. And also, having dealt with depression, anxiety and panic attacks, I would talk about these - something which was not a common thing for males to do.
My greatest desire, however, in joining these groups was to spread the word that:
DIABETICS MAY NOT NECESSARILY HAVE THE CLASSIC WARNING SIGNS WHEN HAVING A HEART ATTACK.
This desire to spread this message came about after I did an interview with one of our local TV stations in which my cardiologist confirmed this message - at an earlier date we had discussed this when I had raised the question.
Channel Nine interview - "29 Lives"
And it would be fair to say that the principle motivating factor for me becoming involved in creating a heart support group here where I live (and joining some Facebook groups) was to get this message out into the wider community and to also spread the word about cardiovascular disease awareness and the links between diabetes and heart disease.
In the second half of 2008, soon after the TV interview, I was invited by our cardiac rehab programme to give a talk about my recovery and rehab process which included what I did to deal with depression and lifestyle changes I made. I can vividly remember talking about not having any pain or discomfort at the time of the heart attack and seeing a number of people in the room nodding their heads in agreement. When I queried them about this they told me that they were also diabetics and had never heard of the link regarding diabetics not always having pain when having a heart attack.
The supposed one-off talk at our cardiac rehab programme became the first of many and to this day, I continue to give my talk every six weeks.
In early 2009, a month or so after the local heart support group I was involved in got off the ground, I withdrew from the group due to personal and health issues. I returned to the group around August of that year and resumed my position on the executive and made it clear that I believed that part of the direction of the group should be sharing our experiences and educating the community about CVD and heart attack warning signs. I was given a free hand to develop this.
By the end of 2010 it became clear that the primary aims of the group was to be social and to revolve around BBQ's, social outings, weekly walks and Tai Chi sessions and fund raising. It also became clear to me that reaching out to the community to spread awareness and education about CVD was not what the new leadership (nor much of the membership) was interested in and following a couple of disagreements, sadly, I walked away from the group.
I had put a lot of time into the group since it was was created and was very disappointed but felt I was knocking my head against a brick wall in trying to get the group as a whole to understand, realize that we, as survivors, had a lot to contribute to the community where we live. I tried to get the executive to see the relevance in members of our group 'getting close' to our Heart Foundation and suggested that we should look at seeing if we could provide some speakers to their volunteer speaker's programme. That proved to go down like a lead balloon!
In 2010 I fought hard to get a training program implemented where members of our group would be trained and qualify to volunteer at our local hospital to talk to people who have just had a heart event and/or maybe were awaiting surgery for a heart related issue. Again, sadly, I watched as the training course took place, and the program fell apart due to a lack of direction and commitment by the executive and those who had completed the course. To say the least I was totally disillusioned having put in over six months of effort to get the program off the ground in the first place.
After leaving the group I joined Heart Foundation of Australia and was trained up to become a volunteer speaker for the organization and and continue to be volunteer speaker today. Around the same time I also became a volunteer patient at Bond University and not long after became a volunteer patient for the Australian Institute of Ultrasound. I found pretty quickly, and easily, that there were plenty of places where I live where I could volunteer and share my experiences which is basically very much what I would have liked to have seen our local heart support group become involved in.
At the same time I became much more involved in support groups on Facebook and also decided to create items that I could use to promote CVD awareness. Here are some of these.
https://www.facebook.com/CHADAwareness
I found I was able to quite readily on Facebook and in Facebook groups do what I would have liked to see our local heart support group do - spread CVD and Diabetes Awareness. I was heartened many times when comments would be made in a group by others confirming that, like me, they had not had the classic symptoms and then on reflection after some prompting they would add that they also were diabetics. Not saying that this happens to all diabetics who have a heart attack, but there is no doubt it is a common enough and as I so fervently believe, this message needs to be spread as it is clear to me that many people are not aware of this.
Following are links to a number of support groups that may be of interest to people who have had a heart event and/or diabetes:
Zipper Club: https://www.facebook.com/groups/zipperClubHeartSurgery/
Heart Attack and Stents: https://www.facebook.com/groups/632446853435296/
Survivors: https://www.facebook.com/groups/162862610420905/
Heart Attack Families and Friends: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Heartattackfamiliesandfriends/
Open-Heart Surgery. "The Zipper Club": https://www.facebook.com/groups/2256590992/
Heart Attack Survivors Unite!: https://www.facebook.com/HeartAttackSurvivorsUnite
Living with Diabetes: https://www.facebook.com/groups/livingwithdiabetes/
There are many more support groups on Facebook, the above are just some that maybe worth a visit if you or someone you know is looking for some encouragement as they deal with a heart issue or diabetes.
Sunday, 12 October 2014
Media & Television Interviews
I talk about 'mind games', emotional stress, depression, anxiety, feeling surreal and these sort of issues when I give a talk at our cardiac rehab unit. I can talk about these because I was confronted with them, had to accept and deal with them and then move on. In another post I will talk more about this but what I wanted to point out at this point is that these feelings and challenges are not uncommon for people who have had a heart attack, or indeed have had to deal with another life threatening situation.
For close to a year after my heart attack I had issues, just ask my wife, she'll tell you! From being self-confident, independent, financially self sufficient and pretty social, I lost a lot of my self confidence after my heart attack and not being able to work brought on financial issues. Having other health issues apart from a heart condition didn't help and having to cope with people who would say 'you are okay now, move on' was pretty difficult to deal with.
Then, out of the blue in early June 2008, I was approached by our local newspaper, The Gold Coast Bulletin, to do an interview and what was supposed to be a two paragraph article grew legs and became a front page cover story and the article was the lead story for that day's edition. Here are some pics from that time:
The morning of June 05 when the article was published was crazy, crazy, crazy. At 5.15am we had a phone call from Channel Seven in Brisbane saying they had seen the article (we hadn't as yet) and wanted to do an interview for that night's edition of Today Tonight, they said they would be down at our place by 7.00am and sure enough they arrived at the said time and we went to a local park to do the interview, it was too noisy at our place with all the birds LOL - a link to the interview is below.
Soon after Seven phoned two local radio stations called as did one from Brisbane to do brief interviews over the phone. Then Channel Nine phoned but because we had committed to Channel Seven they lost interest....LOL. However, Channel Nine did do an interview with me later in the year which was excellent and a link to that is below.
As I said, the day was crazy but one thing it did for me was reignite a belief in myself to tell my story and to promote and advocate for something that until the time of my heart attack I was not aware of:
THAT DIABETICS MAY NOT NECESSARILY HAVE THE CLASSIC WARNING SIGNS WHEN HAVING A HEART ATTACK!!!
This is what happened to me and if it wasn't for Evelyn calling the paramedics when she did, I would not be here today typing this blog, and that's a fact!!!
It would be fair to say that the newspaper, radio and television interviews and one I did later in the year for arguably Australia's largest selling magazine New Idea, helped me pick myself up decide to do something with what had happened to me and spread the message about diabetics and heart attacks and I guess that is the essence of this post - I stumbled around for close to a year going through the motions of life but not really caring all that much and being a bit of a 'shit' to my wife and possibly others but then we this sort of reawakening, a new direction for me to take appeared and I have been running with that ever since as I will talk about at a later time. Suffice to say, it got me motivated to promote wherever and whenever this message and here are a couple of bumper stickers I created to help me do this.
This is the Channel Seven Today Tonight interview:
For close to a year after my heart attack I had issues, just ask my wife, she'll tell you! From being self-confident, independent, financially self sufficient and pretty social, I lost a lot of my self confidence after my heart attack and not being able to work brought on financial issues. Having other health issues apart from a heart condition didn't help and having to cope with people who would say 'you are okay now, move on' was pretty difficult to deal with.
Then, out of the blue in early June 2008, I was approached by our local newspaper, The Gold Coast Bulletin, to do an interview and what was supposed to be a two paragraph article grew legs and became a front page cover story and the article was the lead story for that day's edition. Here are some pics from that time:
Poster outside newsagents promoting the day's edition
Front page
Article appeared on page 4
The interview took place on June 04, two days before my birthday on the ninth floor of the hospital in the cardiac unit where I spent some time after my heart attack and it was published the next day. All sorts of pretty pics were taken with my wife, Evelyn, and Dr Rahman who saved my life that night and whom I still see today.
Dr Rahman and Evelyn
Evelyn
Me clowning around
Click on the following to read the article: Gold Coast Bulletin Article
The morning of June 05 when the article was published was crazy, crazy, crazy. At 5.15am we had a phone call from Channel Seven in Brisbane saying they had seen the article (we hadn't as yet) and wanted to do an interview for that night's edition of Today Tonight, they said they would be down at our place by 7.00am and sure enough they arrived at the said time and we went to a local park to do the interview, it was too noisy at our place with all the birds LOL - a link to the interview is below.
Soon after Seven phoned two local radio stations called as did one from Brisbane to do brief interviews over the phone. Then Channel Nine phoned but because we had committed to Channel Seven they lost interest....LOL. However, Channel Nine did do an interview with me later in the year which was excellent and a link to that is below.
As I said, the day was crazy but one thing it did for me was reignite a belief in myself to tell my story and to promote and advocate for something that until the time of my heart attack I was not aware of:
THAT DIABETICS MAY NOT NECESSARILY HAVE THE CLASSIC WARNING SIGNS WHEN HAVING A HEART ATTACK!!!
This is what happened to me and if it wasn't for Evelyn calling the paramedics when she did, I would not be here today typing this blog, and that's a fact!!!
It would be fair to say that the newspaper, radio and television interviews and one I did later in the year for arguably Australia's largest selling magazine New Idea, helped me pick myself up decide to do something with what had happened to me and spread the message about diabetics and heart attacks and I guess that is the essence of this post - I stumbled around for close to a year going through the motions of life but not really caring all that much and being a bit of a 'shit' to my wife and possibly others but then we this sort of reawakening, a new direction for me to take appeared and I have been running with that ever since as I will talk about at a later time. Suffice to say, it got me motivated to promote wherever and whenever this message and here are a couple of bumper stickers I created to help me do this.
This is the Channel Seven Today Tonight interview:
The next morning I was at Channel Seven local studio doing a short interview for their Morning Show, was nice being on national TV for my 55th birthday :-).
In October 2008, Channel Seven did a second interview with me for Today Tonight that dealt with the question of NDE - Near Death Experience. I felt this was a bit more of a sensationalist interview but really did not know what I was getting myself into when I was approached, actually had thought I would be able to use the opportunity to share my experience of having a heart attack without any real warning signs.
The interview I did in November 2008 with Margueritte Rossi for Channel Nine's Extra programme went very well and I was able to get the message out about diabetes during the interview. Having Dr Rahman involved with the interview was very important and he also underscored the message about diabetics sometimes not having any of the classic signs when having a heart attack. Here is the channel Nine interview that went to air under the title "29 Lives":
Channel Nine interview - "29 Lives''
Just as finding it rewarding to help Evelyn with her wildlife rescue birds and becoming comfortable and enjoying doing this myself and then rediscovering photography helped me deal with my recovery process after my heart attack I need to stress it was being asked to give interviews about what I had been through that really helped me get my head together. Finding out and understanding the significance of not having any real symptoms when I had my heart attack became the motivation I needed to get me 'out there' to spread this information and no doubt spurred me on into taking and creating opportunities to talk about this. I will talk more about this in a separate post.
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