Musical miracle follows a long recovery journey for professional singer Doug Merrick

The air is buzzing at Gosford's 50+ Leisure and Learning Centre as two sharply dressed singers approach the microphone and wave to the audience.

Doug Merrick walks on a suburban street with cane in right hand and wife Helen walks alongside holding his left hand.

A local TV news crew is here filming interviews, sparking anticipation from the crowd of local retirees gathered in the tiny hall.

But soon a hush falls over the room, as singer Sue Rowe grabs her mike and introduces their duo as "Silver and Gold" and a familiar melody from Louis Armstrong drifts into the air.

The audience applauds and the cameras zoom in, ready to capture a musical miracle that no one here was expecting.

The second singer, Doug Merrick, is a 79-year-old road accident survivor, who's being supported by icare's Lifetime Care team.

He can't see his audience, but he still faces them and beams broadly, as his opening lines ring out.

"Oh, when you're smiling, when you're smiling, the whole world smiles with you," he croons.

Hands start to clap, and feet tap, as an impossible - and delightful - comeback show unfolds.

Watch singer Doug Merrick's astounding comeback

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Tragic accident threatened to stop the music

These musical moments are precious for Doug, who was renowned as part of  'The Other Three Tenors' - a popular operatic act.

"For 16 years we did over 20 shows a year – operatic arias, ballads, songs from musicals – mainly in NSW and Queensland, in all the big clubs," he said.

His life changed in 2020 while he was out walking with his wife Helen. The pair had just moved into a seaside home in Booker Bay, on the Central Coast, for a tranquil retirement.

The 79-year-old said he will never forget the moment he was hit by a reversing car, as he was walking along the footpath of his new street. 

Everything suddenly went black, and he recalls waking up in the hospital intensive care unit, with severe injuries to his head, collarbone and ribs and unable to speak, or walk.

It was a couple of weeks before he could form words. Helen remembers him repeatedly asking why the staff had put "black curtains" around him.

"That's the first time we realised something had gone very wrong with his eyesight," she said.

His doctors soon told him that while his broken bones would heal, a traumatic brain injury had impacted his vision, memory and singing voice.

"I discovered I was totally blind. A few months later I discovered how much memory I lost," he said.

Overcoming the odds

Despite these challenges, Doug and Helen never gave up, as a medical journey involving surgery, physiotherapy, speech therapy and other specialist care helped him to heal and recover.

As a survivor of a road accident in New South Wales, Doug's treatment was fully funded by icare's Lifetime Care scheme.

It helped him find ways to adjust to life without his vision and learn to walk, speak and eventually even to sing again.

The journey wasn't easy, but two years later, with great courage and determination, Doug has defied the odds and triumphantly returned to local stages.

"It's something you have to work on and believe," he says with a smile.

"And it's nice to be out there doing it again."

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