Keith McMullen

A reflection on; tragedy, devotion, effort, community, connections and one extraordinarily special man.

My mate George Testais a tetraplegic/quadriplegic. His life and that of his family was changed forever on 16 September 2014.
Tragedy.

George’s wife Faye and children Cameron and Jasmine have and will continue to care for him, feeding, grooming, moving, lifting, comforting and loving him each and every day. In a world were tragedy often tears families apart, witnessing George and Faye renew their wedding vows was a truly touching and moving experience.
Devotion

Watching from a distance at first I saw Georges family and friends rally to organize a fundraising event. Off to a great start the venue Bella Portofino and the tickets were in place. Then with little experience but with burning enthusiasm this small group went about securing donations of goods and services to raffle? Auction? Or whatever??, on the night. Everyone had ideas but none were really sure just how to tackle this huge undertaking.

I wanted to help with the fundraiser but did not know how. I had known of Leigh Stewart for a long time. He was the Real Estate guy that did fundraising. He started Bandaged Bear in conjunction with The Children’s Hospital at Westmead in 1997. My son Drew McMullen was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on 10 March 2000 (15 years ago today). I was working at The University of Sydney in the Faculty of Medicine. The professors I was working with were treating my son and also working with Leigh Stewart in relation to Bandaged Bear. Some years later, both Leigh Stewart and myself, in two separate meetings over coffee at North Beach, were convinced by Professor Don Iverson to help make the UOW Graduate School of Medicine a reality. In 2012, I was invited to a Bandaged Bear event by a friend of my wife Melinda. It was at this event I saw our shared past come together.

So while thinking how I can contribute to George’s fundraiser Leigh Stewart came to mind so out of the blue I contacted him hoping for some advice that I could pass on to the organizing committee. The response was immediate and I accepted an offer to meet over coffee when Leigh returned from a family holiday. A couple of days later when setting a time and place to meet my only restriction was a scheduled meeting of the organizing committee at George’s family home in Mt Warrigal. Without hesitation Leigh says “ OK great I will come to the house with you”. From that moment Leigh picked up the reigns and jumped on board. He invested his time and experience and turned our humble event into a magnificent success. To quote Faye Testa “Thank you Leigh, for your passion and sincerity. We are truly overwhelmed”. I feel privileged to say I now KNOW Leigh Stewart.

One Extraordinarily Special Man.