The coverage of a Yarra Junction man’s near-death experience and subsequent demands for better emergency care shone above the rest in February.
Larry Norman phoned the newsroom and spoke of the time he suffered from an abdominal aortic aneurysm, known as a Triple A.
He was walking down to his neighbour’s house on 25 October 2024 when he collapsed in pain, ending up on his hands and knees crawling to his neighbour’s verandah, though he wasn’t home to help.
Mr Norman said he tried to ring his son and his wife but couldn’t and was just saying ‘God help me’ to himself as a neighbour from the top of the hill drove down the road.
What followed was a blur for Mr Norman – he was taken to Box Hill Hospital where he immediately underwent surgery for four and a half hours. He was put in an induced coma, sent across multiple wards and even got pneumonia, before being sent to Maroondah Hospital.
“They put me in an induced coma and then on life support (a ventilator), on the seventh day, my wife was with me and I pointed up and she said ‘What are you seeing up there, angels or something’ and I just nodded my head yes, because I couldn’t talk,” he said.
After over 30 days in hospital, Mr Norman was released just in time for his 30th wedding anniversary which he spent happily at the Upper Yarra RSL.
His experience prompted calls to expand emergency care services throughout the Upper Yarra.
Read the full article here: upperyarra.mailcommunity.com.au/news/2025-02-05/near-death-experience-prompts-resident-to-call-for-emergency-care-in-the-outer-east/
