Tim Pickering
Guillain Barre Syndrome Survivor, Former Ironman Triathlete, RAAF Aviation Fire Fighter and now a Registered Nurse and Inspirational and motivational speaker!
When life gives you lemons you just have to make the best damn lemonade you've ever tasted!
Patrick Swayze said it best in of my favourite movies - Point Break.
Life Sure does have a sick sense of humour, doesn't it!
I survived GBS (Guillain Barre Syndrome) in 2015, spending 9months in hospital (3 1/2 months intubated) completely paralysed to neck and unable to move. I was essentially a prisoner in my own body and then had to learn to talk, use my hands and walk again.
When I say 'I survived' it wasn't because of anything I did. I had absolutely nothing to do with surviving GBS, nothing at all.
I had the amazing fortune of having treatment from a huge number of people from excellent doctors, nurses, physiotherapist's, exercise physiologists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, dieticians and psychologists. They were the ones who ensured I survived.
I spent the next 3 years working bloody hard with intensive rehabilitation whilst still doing my job as an Aviation Fire Fighter, however never recovered 100% with a tremor of the hands, and Permanent Bilateral Foot Drop with the need to wear Ankle Foot Orthotics to walk for the rest of my life, due to permanent nerve damage and myelin sheath loss below the knees in both legs.
So in 2019, despite being able to do my job, I was medically discharged from the RAAF. After much consideration I chose to study a Bachelor of Nursing as I had amazing nurses providing daily care to me.
I am now a passionate Registered Nurse, and I strive to give the same compassionate, patient centred care to all the patients who's care I am involved in, just like I had the good fortune of receiving.
My hope is that I can be part of the team that might just help others survive their ordeals.
I'd love to share my story with you!
Let's talk!
This year is the 10yr Anniversary of the time I went into hospital and then ICU (February 2015).
I'm finally ready to share my story, how I got through it all, how I developed the resilience, the mindset, the determination to say 'You will not keep me down, I will not just survive but I will thrive'!
I recently shared my story with one of the Emergency Consultants where I work, and they were blown away with my attitude, determination and where I am now and what I have been able to achieve.
It was this very Consultant who told me point blank 'You need to share your story Tim, people need to hear what you've been through and how you've reinvented yourself'.
So, if you'd like to have me speak to your team at breakfast or lunch meeting or at a training day or ream building day, I would love to come to you and tell your team how I survived, how find hope and happiness in hopelessness and dark times. How I went from thoughts of suicide as I struggled with a new reality to where I am now.
I still have a lot to achieve, but it's all about small goals that all lead to the finish line.
The Journey!
From Representing Australia in Triathlon to Joining Defence and becoming a RAAF Fire Fighter, to then being diagnosed with GBS and becoming paralysed to the neck in ICU for 110 days, to wheelchair and then walking with Rehab and now an ED Nurse to give back!
