Tree life cut short

By CASEY NEILL
DREW Wells died twice on 9 August last year.
He often wishes doctors had left him that way.
“I don’t know why I’m here,” he said.
“I don’t need to be here. I’m just a person who used to be.”
But thinking about getting back out in the bush and climbing trees gets the Sassafras arborist through the days.
The 32-year-old doesn’t remember anything about the day that changed his life forever.
He suffered a fractured skull, traumatic brain injury, broken neck, and significant facial injuries when a metal counterbalance struck him in the face while he was trimming trees 15 metres above the ground in Selby.
John Peacock saw the incident unfold from his neighbouring property.
“I saw that piece of equipment exploding his head in the air,” he said.
“He was unconscious, with blood pouring out of his head, and hanging 15 metres above the ground.”
Two men held a long extension ladder against the tree as John’s son Andrew started the climb to reach Mr Wells with no safety gear.
“I knew time was critical. I didn’t know if he was going to survive or not,” Andrew said.
On 1 December last year, he received an Ambulance Victoria Community Hero award for his efforts.
“They’re really good blokes,” Mr Wells told the Mail after the award presentation.
He was unconscious for six weeks after the accident and has no memory of three months of his life. He struggles to remember words, names, and events and doctors don’t know if his memory will ever improve.
“I think about something and 10 minutes later it’s gone – what did you say?” he joked.
“Some things I remember. Other things are gone.”
Mr Wells’ right side is weak and numb and he has no peripheral vision in his right eye.
“It drives me crazy. Everything takes time,” he said.
“Every day is difficult. It’s getting harder.
“I don’t have any energy. Every day, I wake up and I’m tired.
“I should be dead. It’s only because of modern medicine.
“They know how to bring you back alive, but they don’t know what they’ve done. You could have injuries.”
Mr Wells moved into his mum’s Monbulk home after he left hospital late last year and has now been living in a Frankston care facility for about three months.
At the end of this year, he’ll receive TAC and WorkCover compensation for his injuries. The first thing he wants to do with the money is buy a dog. He had to give away his five-year-old husky-kelpie cross Gemma after the accident.
“I think about her every day,” he said.
“I just miss my dog. Gemma was my life.”
The next thing on his wish list is a home in the bush. He was originally from Erica, north of Traralgon, and had lived in Sassafras for about six years before his accident.
“I’m going to buy a house on maybe five acres,” he said.
“I love the bush.”
Returning to the job he loved will be all but impossible.
“For 14 years I was an arborist. It was a great stage in my life,” he said.
“I loved work once. But once has been and gone and here is here.”
But climbing trees has been a passion since childhood and he dreams of getting back among the branches.
“I was four or five when I was chasing birds up trees,” he said.
“I’ll climb a tree as soon as I can get up a tree. I love trees.
“I’ll go further. I don’t care – 250, 300 feet. The higher the better.”