“ I was born in Sydney and we lived in Balmain. I have a younger brother. We moved to Bangalow for a short time when I was about 4 and then my family bought a little property in Eureka. We’ve been there for over 10 years now.
When I was younger I loved dinosaurs, I had a huge interest until I was about 15 with books and dinosaur figures. I changed that love to a love for the environment. I really want to save the environment because it’s better to save what’s still alive than what’s already dead. I also love piano. I started when I was about 8. I had a couple of years when I wasn’t having lessons but I have a good teacher who has been helping me improve. I love it.
I’m in Year 12 now but at the start of Year 10 I became friends with a new guy in my year and we decided to go for a long beach walk in Byron. We had lunch and walked to his place near Cosy Corner at Tallows. We decided to walk around the rocks. There was too much water though because the tide was coming in. We decided to head up the headland on a little path which was probably a goat path. As we got higher and steeper the rock was like shale so it was very slippery and we only had our normal shoes on. We climbed up and up and it kept getting more treacherous. I can’t remember if I was leading or my friend was in front. I think he was probably in front, otherwise I may have hit him on the way down. I think I remember grabbing at a piece of rock but the whole rock face came away. I lost my balance and I could not regain it. I went tumbling backwards. I was sliding for a bit so my hands were messed up but as I was falling, on the right side there was a cliff edge and that’s where I went over a 15 – 20 metre drop onto rock.
I don’t remember. I get nightmares about falling though. When I go to Byron now, I’m not fearful about it but what does trigger anxiety is the type of rock that it was..that shaley rock makes me nervous and my heart starts racing. When I fell and landed on the rock I was right next to the sea which was coming at me. I was so close to the water which was really dangerous as well. I was screaming though I don’t remember any of it. My mind has blocked it all out which is amazing. I can’t get rid of the falling sensation though because I know what it felt like to fall but I don’t remember what it was like to hit the ground.
My friend tried to come down to me but it was impossible and dangerous. Before I fell we had tried to go down but it was too dangerous and we were so close to the top. When I hit the ground, according to my friend and 2 fishermen who were nearby, I was trying to get up. I would have walked into the ocean and been smashed against the rocks. The fishermen saved me. That was the luckiest I’ve ever been. My Mum says they were my guardian angels. They saw me fall and hit the ground and they were there instantly. They held me down while I was struggling and screaming. There was lots of blood as I’d hit the left side of my head severely. That’s why I wear this little cap. It has a plate in it to protect my head where the skull is missing. It’s very dangerous for me if I don’t have it on. If a ball hits me on the head, I’m dead. I’m hyper vigilante all the time.
I am so grateful for the fishermen. Their names are Ady Miller and Chris Keevers. We did have a meeting at Tallows after. I didn’t recognise them of course because I’ve blocked it all out but they were happy to see me. When I fell the ambulance was called but they couldn’t get around because the water was too high. The Westpac Rescue helicopter was called. They had to refuel quickly then when they arrived it was an awkward position for the Paramedics to reach me and it was awkward for the helicopter because my friend Scott was still in the same position up the top so the blades of the chopper were close to him. They winched me up and flew me to the Gold Coast Hospital for emergency surgery. I was very close to death. I’d lost a lot of blood and my skull was just smashed so fragments of bone were sticking into my brain. I was bleeding internally. I’m very grateful for the Surgeons as well. My head was swelling and they didn’t know whether to compress it or let it swell. They decided to let it go which is the best decision apparently because I would have died from internal bleeding had they compressed it.
I was in a coma for 2 weeks. It was another month before I realised who I was and it was another month or so before I could get out. I did come home but had to go to the children hospital in Brisbane which is where I spent my rehab time for another 2 months. Not long ago we had the 2 year anniversary of my accident. I have crazy dreams now.
I finally got back to school in Term 3 in Yr 10. I was very nervous but my friends were amazing. I couldn’t speak because I had to learn again. I also had to learn how to walk again. I’ve done a lot of speech pathology and rehab. Lex Hall has really helped me a lot. I couldn’t read either. I remember looking at my book I was reading before the accident and the words were all just a jumble. I couldn’t understand anything. I can read again now and I love reading.
Last year in Yr 11 was fine but at the start of this year something tragic happened. I’d had a plate put in my head which made me safe and able to live a pretty normal life. I got a screw loose, that’s literally what happened in my head and it caused an infection. They had to remove the plate. It was difficult because the plate was designed to have the bone grow back and it had grown back a little bit which made it hard to get it out. So I was back in intense surgery again. I had starting having fevers and swelling came back. I had an MRI and they found the infection. That was just at the end of the school holidays so I missed a few weeks at the start because I was still in hospital. I came back with this little hat which is not nearly enough protection against most things but it’s better than nothing. I came back exhausted after major surgery so it was impossible to do all my subjects. They said not to do it this year at all because of my mental and physical health. I get headaches every day because of the pressure of not having a skull.
I decided just to do 3 subjects.
I did not want to come back to school next year. I wouldn’t have any of my friends there. I could make new friends but I needed a gap year to relax. I’ve been working so hard for years and I never got a break. I was feeling pretty hopeless at the start of this year because I was told I have to do Yr 12 over 2 years. That didn’t help my mental health. My Mum did some investigating and found there are some ways they can do it but I would have to talk to NESA. Mum was horrified and I was horrified to find out that kids who have cancer or kids going through chemo, NESA doesn’t give them any special consideration so they have to repeat a whole year. That’s why we are fighting, not just for me but for all those kids who’ve had severe injuries, cancer or chemo. My friends have set up a petition with the help of parents to help me to finish this year. It was amazing for them to do that. So far we have over 6,000 signatures.
My biggest goal is to finish this year. I had goals before my accident. I had goals to top a subject but I don’t think that will happen no matter what I do. I was a perfectionist and I still am for anything I do. I would like to have a year doing some travel with my mates, even around this are which is really beautiful. I’d like to get to a Uni possibly in Melbourne and do Environmental Science, Ecology and Conservation. I’d like to specialise in that area. We don’t have that much time left for our environment.
I’m at Trinity Catholic College, Lismore and today I got an award called Marcellin Champagnat. It’s about being selfless and helpful, generous and kind. I wasn’t expecting it and my name was called up for the award. All my friends and everyone in Year 12 gave me a standing ovation. I was amazed and it really helped me feel better about myself and my situation because I know I have every single one of those Year 12 on my side and beyond that of course.”
‘Please sign the petition HOL. When I finished this interview with Connor he got up quietly and picked up all the rubbish around the park where we were sitting. Such an amazing young man and I feel priviliged to have met him.