General News
1 January, 2024
Tyson will meet his lifesavers one year on
KORONG Vale's Tyson Woodman will tomorrow meet with nurses and ambulance officers who helped saved his after an asthma attached a year ago left him dead for 12 minutes. Tyson had to re-learn everything from eating to walking, but a year on, he has...
KORONG Vale's Tyson Woodman will tomorrow meet with nurses and ambulance officers who helped saved his after an asthma attached a year ago left him dead for 12 minutes.
Tyson had to re-learn everything from eating to walking, but a year on, he has recovered enough to return to work and is hoping to be back on the football field with Wedderburn in the 2024 season.
At Bendigo Health tomorrow,the 18-year-old will be reunited with the ambulance community officers, paramedics and nurses who saved his life on New Year's Day 2023.
The Loddon Herald spoke with Tyson and his family after he returned home in May from months of rehabilitation.
Here is Tyson's story:
TYSON Woodman enjoyed a bowl of Coco-Pops after arriving home on New Year’s Day.
The teenager’s snack is one of the last things he remembers before an asthma attack left him dead for 12 minutes.
Community ambulance officers Glenn Thompson and Lynne Gondar were the first to answer the calls from Tyson’s distraught grandparents Verneece and Noel.
Paramedics came next as Tyson, 18, struggling to breathe, screaming in contorted body.
“I am going to die ... I don’t want to die,” Verneece vividly recalled Tyson yelling in the lounge room of their Korong Vale home before she went outside, ambos seeing Tyson die before them and working to revive him.
“He was blue,” said grandfather Noel. “They started CPR. I got out of the way. Twenty minutes later Glenn came out said ‘we have got him back’.”
Standing in that same room near a fish tank four months later is Tyson, home after more than a week in the intensive care unit at Bendigo Health and months of rehabilitation at Royal Talbot Hospital in Melbourne.
He’s firmly grasping a football signed by mates at Wedderburn Football Club who were among the first to rally around the 18-year-old who had landed a full-time job after completing Year 12, had a car and was entering 2023 with the hope and optimism a new year brings.
Redbacks’ veteran Adam Postle says he was left rattled when word quickly spread of Tyson’s deadly asthma attack and the difficult road he faced to recovery.
“I couldn’t believe it ... Tyson was full of live and loved life with a vibrant attitude,” said Adam who had been the youngster’s mentor in a Wedderburn College program for students.
Adam quickly organised a football to be signed by Tyson’s clubmates. Peter McHugh took the ball to Tyson as he prepared to be transferred to Melbourne for rehabilitation and saw delight on Tyson’s face when the handing over the Sherrin, even though the skill of talking was still to be rediscovered.
In the first days of 2023 Tyson was twice put into an induced coma. As Verneece said: “His brain had to be rebooted.”
The asthma attack had left Tyson with brain damage.
“Medical tests also showed an infection on his right lung and a huge cyst. That’s what made it so potentially deadly and hard to get on top of,” said Verneece.
Tyson had been diagnosed an asthmatic at age eight months. He remains bewildered the January 1 incident so severe prescribed medication was not strong enough to halt and ease the attack.
“I remember saying that asthma doesn’t do this to me,” he said.
Tyson’s road to recovery has already seen him surprise nurses and health professionals with a determination taking family and friends on a journey from shattered distress to joy.
“There was a family meeting and we were told he would never come home and would have to go into care,” said Verneece.
“Tyson was terrified, frustrated, didn’t know what was going on. They said to meet the new Tyson.”
After losing more than 10kg in weight while in intensive care, Tyson was also frail and weak, his start to rehabilitation slow.
But progress started - the football helped him kick goals building strength and co-ordination.
Speech made a return. “Yeah” was initially the only word in his vocabulary.
Visits from mates Dylan Caruana, Zac Slide, Junior Whyman and Kalais Crees put spirit into his fightback.
That focus didn’t surprise Laurie Witham. The Wedderburn pest control company owner had employed Tyson one day a week through a Wedderburn College student employment placement program.
“When he finished school late last year, I put him on full-time,” Laurie said.
““He was probably one of the best workers we have ever had and we had enrolled Tyson in a TAFE course to gain the qualifications needed in the job. Then this bloody thing hit. It’s a pretty bad deal for Tyson but he’s got determination for sure.”
Tyson had also been working part-time at the local supermarket.
Owners Leigh and Jenny Randall and Laurie have been among supporters given thanks by Tyson in a note he dictated to grandmother Verneece, writing another of those temporarily lost skills.
“I would like to thank the community for all their support and a special mention to my mates Dylan, Jac and Junior and their families, the Wedderburn Redbacks for keeping me involved with footy while I’m unable to play.”
Tyson is steeled for a long road to recovery, supported by family and football mates - building the body weight back up, jumping the hurdles ahead of schedule like when he suddenly walked without a frame in rehab.
“I have never given up and I never will,” Tyson said. He’s venturing down to Donaldson Park every football training night and for games to watch his mates in action.
Tyson would love to be out running around the ground himself but with a hint of the old self says: “No footy this week - I would have been a benchwarmer.”
When Tyson’s laboured breathing stopped on New Year’s Day, Verneece and Noel feared for his future. For the Nan and Pop who Tyson says are “always there supporting me”, joy has returned to their home.
“The whole community has been so wonderful with their support of Tyson,” said Noel. “Small communities always come together,” added Verneece.
Tyson is kicking personal goals undaunted as he tackles new challenges, barracking for his mates on the football ground. “And it’s good being back with Nan and Pop,” says the teenager with another shot at life.