Wayne Silcock and his wife, Jennie. He is making wooden furniture one handed after his right arm was paralysed from a stroke.By Tania Martin
WAYNE Silcock of Menzies Creek is living proof that people can do anything with a bit of grit and determination.
He had a severe stroke two years ago and doctors told his family there was only a five per cent chance that he would live to see the next 48 hours.
But Mr Silcock proved the doctors wrong and is now moving on with his life making wooden furniture one handed.
He returned to Kingston Centre where he did his rehabilitation last week to show the doctors and his physical therapist how far he has come in the past 12 months.
Both Mr Silcock and his wife, Jennie, were shocked when he had his stroke because he was always in good health.
Mr Silcock said he didn’t feel ill at the time but since having the stroke he has been diagnosed with a heart condition.
“I only had seven sick days in 20 years of working and I was as fit as a Mallee bull,” he said.
The stroke left him with significant brain damage and unable to walk, talk or use his right arm.
He didn’t even recognise his twin children, Katie and Shaun, or his wife, Jennie, after the stroke.
Three days after his stroke Mr Silcock was transferred to Kingston Centre where he lived for the next 11 weeks before moving home to be with his family.
He was determined that he would walk out of Kingston Centre on his own two feet which he achieved.
He started painting wooden items made by other patients at Kingston Centre as part of his rehabilitation and because of the damage to his right side he has trained himself to become left handed.
Coming home from Kingston Centre, Mr Silcock said he needed to find something to do with his time or else he would have gone crazy. Mrs Silcock suggested he try making some Christmas presents with wood and he hasn’t looked back since. Mr Silcock started off by making a dolls house and a chair but he can now make just about anything.
“I have an open fire place down the back yard and if I don’t like what I’ve made I can just throw it in the fire,” he said.
“But I haven’t had to throw anything away yet.”
Mr Silcock said it is important not to dwell on what he can’t do but to focus on what he can. He will now continue making furniture and hopes to one day set up a shop.
