After the Border Run in August this year John decided he would ride the long way home, via WA, NT and Qld.
He got caught in bad weather in N-W WA and came down with a severe cold. He was staying in a motel in Derby when he was taken to hospital. His motorcycle and personal effects are still there.
John suffered from cystic fibrosis and was a long way from his support team in Canberra. While in the Derby hospital he suffered a respiratory arrest and was medically evacuated to the Fiona Stanley hospital in Perth by the Flying Doctor. Efforts to revive him in Derby led to kidney damage which required him to be put on dialysis.
He spent weeks in ICU in the Fiona Stanley hospital before being transferred to the cardiac ward. John’s sisters, Brock and Glen had been able to visit him and a few of us talked to him on the phone. I raised the issue about recovering his bike and gear from Derby a few times. John showed little interest which should have set off alarm bells. I was convinced that he would recover so I didn’t push the point.
A few days ago John was put into palliative care in a general ward. Up until this point his closest friends believed he would eventually recover, not to 100% capacity but at least on the long road to some sort of recovery. John requested to be taken off life support and died not long after.
John was a very private person and he did not want his true medical problems to be revealed. This will help to explain the lack of information being disseminated on the various motorcycle forums.
On Wednesday next week John will be cremated in Perth.
A wake will be held at 3pm on Sunday, 11 Oct, at Northbridge Brewing Co., 44 Lake Street, Northbridge, Perth for by those of his OzSTOC and FarRider friends who are able to make it.
What happens after that?
John’s bike and gear will be brought to Perth and the bike will be sold in that location. I will probably remain in the West until that is done and then bring John back to Canberra with me.
John is survived by his mother and siblings who all live in country Victoria.
It has only been a couple of years since his wife, Gina, a diabetic, passed away in a Canberra shopping centre car park on the day that John and I were returning from an interstate motorcycle trip. They had no children.
John came to Canberra in the early 1970s to study economics at ANU. He graduated with honours and spent his working life in the Treasury Department in Canberra.
He retired a couple of years ago and bought a Triumph Trophy motorcycle. He had clocked up more than 70,000 kms in the short time he owned the bike.
There will be a memorial service in Canberra for John in November. The date is dependent on his family’s overseas commitments. Details of his service will appear on the forums.
