Bill's story: I want my life to be fulfilling

Bill was in his final year of school when an accident on his motorbike left him with a severe brain injury. The accident and its impacts haven’t dented Bill’s buoyant spirit and enthusiasm for new opportunities. Bill is a Lifetime Care participant.

Like most 21-year-olds, Bill is indecisive about some things. He’s not sure whether his immediate future is about working or studying. But he is sure about what he enjoys doing — he enjoys eating. His enjoyment isn’t just about the food. It’s part of a commitment to connecting with people and an interest in health and exercise. 

Bill describes himself as chubby but lovable at school — hence his nickname, Panda. Now he’s a striking young man with shoulder-length hair, a warm disposition and a ready laugh. 

On Mother’s Day 2018 while in year 12 at his school in northern Sydney, then 18-year-old Bill was on his way to his part-time job at Hungry Jack’s when a driver knocked him off his motorbike. He sustained a severe brain injury and multiple fractures and was in intensive care at Westmead Hospital for three weeks followed by six months at Royal Rehab in Ryde. 

Bill remembers nothing of the accident but distinguishes his time by food memories. At Westmead, he’d been put on a protein diet to put on weight, but his mum brought in enough food for several people. 

"I ate to feed a small family. The protein diet wasn't necessary for long. At Royal Rehab there was a choice, a menu — the food was great."

Memory and confusion

The impact of the accident has left him with ongoing memory problems and some confusion as well as concentration, mood and fatigue issues.

Bill lives with his parents, Delan and Li Fan, in leafy Cherrybrook in Sydney’s north-west. His two older sisters have left home and he’s now the sole focus of his mother’s committed Chinese cooking. And parenting.

"I was a good child. I ate by myself at age six. Now, I’d like to be more independent but Mum is Mum. She feels good about doing things for me. I washed my sheets yesterday and she did them again today."

Bill reckons his parents don’t want to accept that he has a brain injury, only that he’s moody. They expect him to set his own goals and honour them.

"Now I have a whiteboard in my room and I set my goals on it to motivate myself." 

In 2020 Bill completed a TAFE course in Allied Health Assistance and is now doing a course in personal training. 

"I chose those courses because they’re both beneficial for others. I’m now selling gym equipment in a local store. There are all sorts of ways to help others. You just need to be a good person."

"My boss sometimes gets frustrated if I can’t do something, but then he writes the instructions on a whiteboard and it’s fine."

Volunteer work

Bill’s commitment to helping others started with his school mates. In Vanuatu they built a classroom and painted the roof of a church. While there, Bill’s contribution to a talent show was eating six bananas in two minutes. Back home, he and his mates also did volunteer work at the Buddhist Tzu Chi Temple and prepared meals for Vinnies’ vans, a food support service for the homeless.

"In those days, volunteering was something fun. Now I see it as a stepping stone that’s really great for social interaction, meeting other people and getting work experience. Those things can be tough after a brain injury."

At school Bill was keen on sport, particularly rugby and volleyball. He is still committed to working out and found not being able to go to the gym regularly was one of the biggest challenges of the COVID lockdown. But there were also lockdown pluses. At school, Bill had found public speaking terrifying but recently he presented online as part of a webinar on brain injury through Liverpool Hospital. He’d like to do more public speaking to motivate others.

“I’ve shifted. Maybe it’s growing up, maturing, maybe it’s even because of having a brain injury — I no longer worry so much about what everyone is thinking. I just focus on my presentation and its impact.”

Bill participated in the Cerebral Palsy Alliance’s Challenger program for young adults with a disability. The course is designed to empower participants in developing skills they need to live their best life. Bill says that on the course he found “his” people — friends his own age who understand. 

"My old schoolfriends – not all of them get me and that’s frustrating. They feel sympathetic but they don’t really see me. Friends from the program do. People on the Challenger course give you a sense of community and even though everyone’s accident or issue is different, there’s a semblance of similarity. We just understand each other on a different level. We get it. We understand if someone says something weird."

Being there for each other

Since the program, Bill and some of his new friends have formed a Facebook group currently called ABIG or Australian Brain Injury Group. Bill’s very keen to establish a forum in which those who know what it’s like to live with a brain injury can share ideas, socialise, be there for one another.   

Bill and his co-founder, Ben, would like ABIG to have a bigger footprint than just Facebook, with funding to allow them to arrange entertainment and gatherings, as well as to encourage and support one another. He’s giving one of the members guidance in job interview techniques.  

Bill completed a Certificate in Mental Health and wants to apply his learnings to support people with a brain injury. 

Learning to be independent

Bill is still finding his way of live with a brain injury. He’s still tossing up between studying further and finding a job that’s about working with people, but with some downtime as he doesn’t like too much interaction. He also wants to get his driver licence so he can be more independent.

He is also experimenting with Italian cuisine in contrast to his mum’s Chinese cooking. He has recently learnt to make lasagne and a dulce de leche cake.

“I don't want an easy future. I want it to be fulfilling. It doesn't really matter what I do, but who I do it with.”