Perth & Margaret River

After being in Australia for two and half years, it was high time to get across the country to Perth, in Western Australia!

Perth, in my opinion, is Australia's most beautiful city. The city skyline is classy, not cluttered and the whole city has that "new car" feel to it. It has miles of white sandy beaches without any of the rowdy drunken backpackers of the Gold Coast.

More importantly, Perth is home to two fellow Canadians, Kara and Lach. I won't dare tell you how good they are at hosting guests, lest they not be available the next time!

After having a night of fantastic wine and some of the best home-cooked food in the Southern hemisphere, we left Perth and toured down south to the Margaret River wine region taking in in all the sites. The area is absolutely gorgeous and the weather couldn't have been better!

Here's a small taste of what we saw:


Busselton Jetty, the longest wooden jetty in the Southern Hemisphere at nearly 2km.


The beer sampler from the Colonial brewery near Margaret River.


The precise location where the Southern Ocean (or Antarctic Ocean) meets the Indian Ocean. They tasted the same to me...


A Blue Tongue lizard giving us attitude near Meelup Beach, WA.


This was so cool! This is NOT a bird sanctuary, this is a regular old city park in Perth. The birds will fly down and land all over you if you bring them some bird seed!


Kara and Lach, our Canuck counterparts to the West! Thanks guys and Happy Birthday Kara!

Meeting Meyrick

I was having a busy day today renewing my Canadian license, taking care of a passport issue, gorging myself on Sugar Crisp cereal and guzzling A&W Root Beer (small comforts of home) when the thought dawned on me that I should swing by the fantastic new Innovative Fitness location in Port Moody to meet Meyrick Jones face to face!

For those who are just joining us, Meyrick has been an inspiration to my whole family ever since my Dad met him at a road race, two days before my last operation. At the time, he graciously offered to help me "get my feet under me" again. It took some time before I felt ready to contact him (several weeks after the surgery) but once I did, I found him to be chock full of information and support.

In a classic "it's a small world" act, some friends back in Victoria, Shannon and Cliff, sent out a DVD of Meyrick's interviews with Cliff's brother who is doing his prosthetics apprenticeship, not knowing that I was already in touch with him. It was a welcome gift as the video clips weren't posted to YouTube for some time after that.

Meyrick and I have continued to stay in touch and I really respect his opinions on life, my recovery and fitness in general. I posted an article on swimming that he and I collaborated on when I was still on crutches and trying to find some cardiovascular activity.

Meeting Meyrick in person confirmed something that I always knew: he is a truly genuine, nice guy!

As short as it was, it was absolutely awesome to finally meet, shake his hand and check out his new gym in person. The facility exudes Meyrick's own passion for elite sport and fitness.

Next time I'm on the continent, I'll definitely take some time out to plan a horrendously long hike with him so I can pick his brain a lot more! Thanks for everything Meyrick.

*note: this post has been back-dated to the intended post date due to a technical issue encountered on initial attempt.

How to Save a Bumpy Week

I don't usually like to admit to having a bad day, but sometimes you don't need to for good friends to catch on.

Today, much to my red-faced surprise and delight, these two beauties showed up to work sporting custom made shirts to ensure the week started off with a grin!

That's right, it's official, there is a fan club and they now have t-shirts! All kidding aside, I'm very lucky to have such amazing support.

With friends like these, who could stop smiling?


Krissie and Mel, the very best!
(I need a haircut)

Loren versus the "Lend"

When I first became aware that I might have to pull a "return to sender" on my left leg, I did a lot of reading.

One word that I utterly HATED was "stump". Like most people, I think in vivid pictures so when I heard that word, I imagined a lumberjack with a bloody chainsaw standing over my screaming torso. Not a nice image!

At the time, the word brought to mind something gross, bloody and hacked up and was synonymous with "mutilation".

I suppose I eventually came to accept the word as part of my regular vocabulary because every doctor, physiotherapist, prosthetist, etc insisted on using it. The doctors seemed to think that using single syllable words made them more accessible. For some, I think they did this is in lieu of having to work on their bedside manner.

Since then, I've had the good fortune of doing some peer-counselling in the hospital for other young new amputees. In every case I've encountered objections to using that word but no one had any good suggestions for an alternative.

Enter Loren, a recovering above-knee amputee who I had the absolute pleasure of meeting on Monday. With a big smile and a stern warning, I was told never to use the "s-word" again. Instead, I promised Loren that I'd spread the word to adopt the word "Lend" (Limb-End).

So here you go Loren, this one's for you! I've already confused a few prosthetists one physiotherapist and one super-doc this week on your behalf. By the time you get to rehab, I hope the "s-word" will be a distant memory and entirely taboo. I admire your courage and I wish you the very best recovery possible!

Easter on Fraser Island

The Easter Bandicoot was good to us this year. Instead of chocolate, he brought us Sheryl and Steve, our good friends from Canada!

This called for some extreme tourism and thus a weekend on Fraser island, just off the coast of mainland Australia.

Visiting Fraser comes with some great benefits, namely, the fact that you need a 4WD with a snorkel to get around. The snorkel comes in great for crossing Eli creek on the East side of the island. When you're not driving down the beach or crossing streams, you're bouncing around the sandy 4x4 inland tracks.

As an added bonus, December's cyclone washed away parts of the passable beach, leaving a rocky moonscape to drive around on. The deep holes and steep climbs over slippery black lava rocks made for a great time!

It was like 4WD Fantasy Camp for Yuppies. We had a blast and the grins haven't faded yet!

My own personal accomplishments for the weekend:
1) Driving a manual transmission (my first post-op clutch).
2) Hiking in sand, very uneven and quite a challenge.
3) 5km trail hike in the middle of the island near a spot called Central Station.
4) Not rolling Chuggers (our 4WD) on the wet rocks of the washed out beach.

* I've only had my new leg for three weeks so the 5km hike and sand walking were both a big deal to us. The manual clutch was a pure bonus!

Swimming in Lake McKenzie was fantastic at the end of a great day of 4WDriving. The water was crystal clear and warm as could be. A couple of dingos even graced us with a little wildlife adventure on the shore at dusk.

A Few Fraser Facts:
- The island is considered to be the largest sand island in the world at 1840 km².
- The 120 km (75 mile) beach on the East side acts as both a highway and a runway.
- The original name of the island is "K'gari". It means paradise.
- Fraser island was inscribed as a World Heritage site in 1992.

We couldn't have asked for a better crew! Even "Chuggers", our 4WD, held off breaking down until after the trip was over when his battery went entirely dead for no reason during a quick stop at the carpark after we got off the ferry and back to the mainland. A quick rolling start / clutch pop got Chuggers rolling again and we managed to get him back to his home at the rental shop.


Photo: The crew with "Chuggers" our 4WD on the Eastern beaches.


Photo: Chugging over the sandy inland 4x4 tracks.


Photo: The Maheno, a shipwreck used by the RAAF in WWII for bombing practice.

Lisa and the Blood Bubble

On Monday, Lisa was paid to play hooky from work and go down to sign up new blood donors at the ARCBS (Australian Red Cross Blood Services) Blood Bubble!

This is a topic near and dear to both our hearts as I received many transfusions during my time in the hospital. Someone's donation saved my life.

2009 celebrates 80 years of Red Cross blood services in Australia and the bubble is an information booth aimed at signing up new donors and testing for their blood type.

Lisa and a few of her colleagues took in hundreds of new donor commitment sheets and answered all sorts of questions for people.

She was even allowed to put on the mascot costume at one point. She said she'd always wanted to be a mascot!


Did you know?
- One in three people will need blood, but only one in thirty people donate.
- 470 mL of blood is collected when you give whole blood.
- Every whole blood donation can help save up to 3 lives!
- Within 24-48 hours of giving blood, your blood volume is completely restored.
- Red blood cells have a shelf life of up to 42 days.
- You can start giving blood at 16.
- You can donate whole blood every 12 weeks.
- Plasma and platelet donations can be made every 2 weeks.
- You can donate double platelets - helping twice as many people.
- Platelets have a shelf life of only 5 days.
- The most plasma donations made by one person was 938.
- Plasma donations can be used to make 16 different products.
- O negative blood is universal and can be given to anyone.
- Australia needs 21,000 blood donations every week.
- 34% of donated blood goes towards helping cancer patients.

It's been nearly twelve weeks since my last post about donating blood. That means if you donated blood that week, you're nearly eligible to donate again. Maybe you can even fit in a plasma or platelet donation in the meantime?

Many of you responded saying that you are regular donors and I really commend you for that! If you've never donated before, now is as good a time as any to start!

Remember to book your next donation appointment soon. Besides, who can say "no" to free cookies and juice?

My Tallisman

Around Christmas time, I received an amazing gift in the mail that I'll always treasure. It's a little piece of home. It's a Canadian icon. It's got a funny name. It's a Canadian Loonie!

The letter that accompanied this coin not only gave me strength, it solidified my resolve to get back to life and to live to the full extent of what "living" really means.

That's because this isn't just any Loonie. It came from an excellent friend. It's been used to inspire determination in someone whom I respect very much at a time he needed it most. It bears the image of his hero: Terry Fox.

Terry Fox is a Canadian icon whose Marathon of Hope has raised over $400 million for cancer research. Terry lost his leg to cancer at the age of 18 but vowed to collect $1 from every Canadian for cancer research by running across Canada. He intended to run 42km each day, the length of a full marathon, until he reached his goal.

From the foundation website:
Terry trained for 15 months, running 3,159 miles, running until his stump was raw and bleeding, running every day for 101 days, until he could run 23 miles a day. He took one day off at Christmas, only because his mother asked him.

Once, just before Christmas, when he had run only a half mile, the bottom half of his artificial leg snapped in two pieces, and Terry crashed to the pavement. He picked up the two parts, tucked them under his arm, stuck out his thumb and hitch-hiked home. There, he clamped the two parts together and ran another five miles.

After 18 months and running over 5,000 kilometres (3,107 miles) to prepare, Terry started his run in St. John’s, Newfoundland on April 12, 1980 with little fanfare. Although it was difficult to garner attention in the beginning, enthusiasm soon grew, and the money collected along his route began to mount. He ran 42 kilometres (26 miles) a day through Canada's Atlantic provinces, Quebec and Ontario.

However, on September 1st, after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres (3,339 miles), Terry was forced to stop running outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario because cancer had appeared in his lungs. An entire nation was stunned and saddened. Terry passed away on June 28, 1981 at age 22.

The Terry Fox run is now run worldwide. In 2004, even Kabul, Afganistan had its first Terry Fox run. First run in Australia: September 1988 in Brisbane (legacy from Expo '88) raising $ 22,000 (AUD).

The following is an excerpt from Terry's letter requesting support for his run called "The Marathon of Hope":

"The night before my amputation, my former basketball coach brought me a magazine with an article on an amputee who ran in the New York Marathon. It was then I decided to meet this new challenge head on and not only overcome my disability, but conquer it in such a way that I could never look back and say it disabled me."

That's the choice we all face when we come up against a challenge that seems insurmountable: we can lay down and give up or we can stand up, dust ourselves off and play the hand we've been dealt to the best of our abilities. Sometimes that's going to take a little extra problem solving and some extra determination but we all have the ability within us to achieve.

I won't forget Terry's legacy and I'll keep this little reminder with me for the days those challenges seem overwhelming. On those days, I'm going to look at my Loonie, man-up and remember to just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

"I am not a dreamer... but I believe in miracles. I have to." Terry Fox, October 1979

My Maton

I received a delivery of a book and letter last weekend, and wow, I was absolutely blown away! My friends and coworkers back in Victoria, BC, Canada pulled together something really special here!

The book is awesome! It was just what I needed and really cool. It's filled with photos of us from Victoria along with letters from my coworkers and friends back home all bound together in a coffee table book. On the back cover there's a great quote by Plutarch: "The measure of a man is the way he bears up under misfortune".

The letters offered encouragement and really made my month. That book will stay with me and I’ll read it anytime I struggle or start to get frustrated. I had been saying to Lisa that I wanted to put together a binder with all the emails I received so I could pull it out when I needed it. These people beat me to it!

I hadn’t even noticed the letter in the box until Lisa got home as it was stuck to the packaging. We were both absolutely floored. They'd collected together enough cash to buy me a new guitar since I'd be spending some more time at home!

I took the advice in the letter and tried out a Maton on Saturday. It was heads and tails above anything I’ve ever played/owned. I really liked it. These guitars compete with some of the best made top end instruments on the market.

Maton handcrafts every guitar from Queensland Walnut and Queensland Maple. Both are excellent woods that give the guitar a really gorgeous and rich sound. This is a serious guitar, sort of one of those “once in a lifetime” purchases. Maton’s quality control practices are second to none. These guitars are made in Australia with Australian (Queensland) components and woods so it’s going to be a great souvenir of living here!

On Sunday, we called around asking every shop in town if they carried Matons. Most do as they’re Australian made, but few had any in stock. We finally found one shop that had 4 models in stock to choose from, including the one I’d already researched and picked out from looking online. We went straight away.

I was able to try them all out hand pick the right one. We got a GREAT deal on the guitar -- the "leg tap" powers and the fact that it was a gift really made them go the extra mile. I managed to get myself a brand new Maton 325 series, fresh from the factory, never been played, still in the box. It’s gorgeous. I also managed to get a leather strap (Maton custom), a stand and a Maton custom case for it. All in all, a 100% Maton package.

This really meant a lot to me knowing what kind of effort went in, so I really thank you all! What an amazing set of people you all are, thank you so much for your thoughts and the amazing gifts!

My payback

During my time in the hospital, a common theme was people wanting to help me in any way they could. I wanted to let them help but I didn't know how. Afterall, you don't need much when you're in the hospital. As you can see from my last post, they found ways to help me anyways.

The constant offers got me thinking: what could I use this army of volunteers for? Was it time to unleash my plans for global domination? Nope... probably need more people for that. Not enough people to create a nice sized cult either... at least, not one that would pay very well. I could start my own religion but... too hard to pick a deity and "follow me as your god" just sounds arrogant...

I wrestled with this one for a while until one day it came to me. I was receiving (at least) my 13th unit of blood (not counting the blood I would have received during any of the 11 surgeries or on that first night). The following is the email a friend of mine sent out the next morning:

As you know, Michael MacKenzie was involved in a serious accident. In response to the question “What can we do to help?” he’s asked that people consider donating blood to replenish some of the stock he's used. Someone’s donation has saved his life.

Rachel from the Red Cross has offered to do a free pickup of anyone who’s interested in donating blood. I’m suggesting that we go and give blood on: Friday 14th November, 10am pickup. Please let me know if you are coming so I can let Rachel know how many people to expect.

Thanks to his efforts, 11 people went in to donate that day! They sent me this picture (not all stayed for the photo) afterward. You can click on the photo to see a larger version. Notice the flash arm bandages!

People still tell me that if there's anything I ever need, just ring. If you're one of those people, maybe you could donate blood in your community to help me pay back some of the karma I owe. I won't be eligible to give for some time so until then, I have to rely on my friends and family for my payback.

My friends, my family

I have some amazing friends and family. I really do. I've only been overseas for a year but what a difference they've made in my life, near or abroad. So, at the risk of being sappy, I wanted to share a bit more of how they affected my life in the hospital.

Lisa was my rock. I can't imagine how she must have felt the night of the accident, receiving a phone call at work around 9pm saying that I had been brought in by ambulance and was heading in for surgery. She left the lab for the hospital and waited until 3am having no idea what to expect when I got out. Hers was the first face I saw.

I had the easy part being the patient with all the attention, the sleep, the painkillers, the surgeries, the sponge baths, the prepared meals, etc. She had it rough. What happened to me happened to her, day in day out, only she had to go home to a very empty house, bills, dishes, a job, reality. She handled every bit of it with grace. She was incredible.

Mostly what I'll remember from our time there was the fun we had. She always managed to keep me entertained! She baked for me, brought in contraband chocolate, bought me Subway and Nando's when the food got repetitive and managed to find a way to fit two of us in a tiny hospital bed to watch a DVD while I was still tied up in traction. We went for wheelchair whizzes, snuck off hospital grounds together for haircuts (try explaining that one), played two-headed patient (photo) and clowned around with anything we could get our hands on. I'd have lost my mind without her!

My Dad, Mom, sister and other members of my family spent hours upon hours talking with me by phone or in person during that period, 24/7, all hours of the day, sorting me out. I took them each down a dark scary path and none of them backed down. They were invincible. No one flinched. Each one of them is a superhero.

There were countless amazing emails of support from friends and family, both near and abroad. At one point, I told my Dad that I felt really lucky for getting to hear so many nice encouraging things about myself from everyone without having to attend my own funeral!

I also had a constant stream of good people coming to visit me. There was even a local attempt to organize a bit of a schedule for visitors so I wouldn't be overwhelmed on any given day. As you can probably tell, one of my good friends here is a project manager!

A few rallied together and bought me a chess board, then came around to have afternoon games with me. Others sent in DVDs or kept me stocked well with chocolate and amazing baked goods to help keep the weight on as I wasted away in bed.

Two people in particular made life a whole lot better/easier for us here. One bought an early Christmas present for his kids, a dual-screen DVD player, and gave it to us to use for as long as we wanted to cut the drudgery of the day. He and his sister (my friend the project manager) kept us extremely well stocked with DVDs for the whole stay. Together they took care of everything outside the hospital that Lisa and I couldn't get to.

On leaving the hospital, a friend of mine from overseas got us a gift certificate for pre-packaged gourmet meals to make the transition back to home and back to worklife that much easier. This wasn't an easy thing to do from so far away.

There are a few more things I want to mention and tons more people I need to thank, but I've decided I need to post about those ones separately. Please watch for future posts about "my payback", "my tallisman", and (as of today), "my Maton"!

There is no way I can thank everyone enough and there's no token I can give to show my appreciation to you all (that and I'm cheap). Instead, I vow this to all of you: I will get better, I'll live harder than ever before and I won't let your amazing support be in vane. I'm a lucky person to have seen the true value of friends and family in my life and I won't soon forget it.