Meet Declan: First-time guest

Speaker 1 0:17

Welcome to an edition of GW Unspoken Connect Beyond the Plan , and I've got a very special first time guest on the show . I've got Declan . How are you mate ?

Speaker 2 0:25

Good .

Speaker 1 0:26

Mate , I've only met you probably twice before , and last time I think we got some fish and chips . That took us like 16 hours to get up .

Speaker 2 0:34

I reckon a bit longer .

Speaker 1 0:35

It was a long time , wasn't it ? All right , mate , now we're going to get to know you on the show , because people can't see us . So , um , out of five , five being awesome , one being terrible . How you feeling right now ?

Speaker 2 0:47

about a , about a three and a half about three and a half bit over half .

Speaker 1 0:51

Okay , had a nice little lunch there . I noticed before , yeah , you dominated , that that was good . Um , and then give me something that you're really grateful for at the moment . What's something you're really happy for at the moment ?

Speaker 2 1:01

oh , that's a hard question .

Speaker 1 1:10

I actually like the time you're taking to think about this one . This is good , just life in general yeah , happy to be alive , yeah , yeah , good , all right . Well

School life: Primary vs High School

Speaker 1 1:21

, let's go back . I want to talk to you really quickly about life with Declan . Tell me about . You're in high school now , right , grade seven , yeah grade seven . Tell me about primary school . What's your memories of primary school ? What do you like about ?

Speaker 2 1:35

it , it's all right .

Speaker 1 1:36

Yeah , what was the best thing about primary school ?

Speaker 1 1:43

Probably that you didn't have to move classes yeah , yeah yeah , you just stay in the same sport yeah , same sort of teacher , unless you had like music or pee or something yeah was there much bullying in primary school ? No , no , it was pretty good , pretty chill all right . Now let's talk about high school , because I know most teenagers I have on the show will say to me no one likes high school , gary , or no one likes school Gary . What's your comment going to be if I said what's high school like ?

Speaker 2 2:12

Besides the work , it's better than primary .

Speaker 1 2:15

Oh , is it ? Yeah , I didn't expect you to say that . Well , apart from the work , what's good about your mates ? Yeah , all right , here's a's good about your mates .

Speaker 2 2:22

Yeah , all right , here's a tough one , yeah .

Speaker 1 2:29

Here's a tough one If I said to you I'm taking your mates away and your lunchtime away how good's school .

Speaker 2 2:37

About a negative five . That's awesome .

Speaker 1 2:42

All right , so tell me at least , then We'll finish with a positive . What's one subject or two subjects you do like at high school ? Hp and Visual arts Okay so more of the sort of hands on practical ones . Yeah , alright , now let's go there . So you talked about hpe , so obviously , like the practical element , there's something you're involved with now that I'm really curious about , and I've been trying to hassle you about being a manager for already today . Yep , what's , what's this ?

Wheelchair rugby: Smashing into competition

Speaker 1 3:18

wheelchair rugby now tell me , how does that ? Do you just smash people like how does it work ? It work . How do you score a try ? People who haven't heard about it , how do you play ?

Speaker 2 3:27

There are two markers because you play on a basketball court .

Speaker 1 3:31

Yeah .

Speaker 2 3:31

But there are two markers on each side and you have to carry the ball in your lap and go through the enemy's one to score a try .

Speaker 1 3:42

Okay , and so how do you prevent someone scoring a try ?

Speaker 2 3:46

Smash into them .

Speaker 1 3:48

Why did you smile when I said that ? So when you get hit with another wheelchair , do you have like five seconds to get rid of the ball ?

Speaker 2 3:57

No , you can just keep going . You can slap the ball out of their lap .

Speaker 1 4:04

Okay , so I'm a bit naive with this , even though I'm a PE teacher . So if I've got the ball in my lap and I'm cruising and some person hits me and I'm on one knee wheel and I can keep going , until ?

Speaker 2 4:13

Yeah , you can keep going . You just have a time rule . I think , it's like 8 , 10 seconds or something like that oh to score . No , no , no , it's just to carry it . So you seconds or something like that . Oh , to score ? No , no , it's just to carry it . So , okay , you have like 10 seconds and if you don't like , do like like a little drop onto the ground and catch it back or pass yeah , change over . I've never seen it happen okay have you scored a try yet ? Yeah , a couple of them oh nice .

Speaker 1 4:45

And do you use a football or how do you use it ?

Speaker 2 4:47

Oh , it's a volleyball .

Speaker 1 4:49

Oh , so it bounces up easier . Have you ever put a good shot on yet Whack ?

Speaker 2 4:55

Oh yeah , like a big hit .

Speaker 1 4:58

Okay , so here's a question for you Do you in your game ? You've only had a couple of games , yes , yeah , a couple . Do you like wheeling with the ball , or do you like putting a shot on the most ?

Speaker 2 5:10

It's a bit nervous when you're going with the ball , because I've seen a couple of people tip over .

Speaker 1 5:17

Right over .

Speaker 2 5:17

Yeah , so if you get hit on a weird angle , you'll just go sideways . What the hell ? There are people there to pick you up . Okay , that's the most nervous part for me , if you get hit wrong you just flip over .

Speaker 1 5:34

Okay , well , look , you must be going .

Speaker 1 5:36

okay because , well , more than okay , because when I first came here and asked you about it , because , last time I was here a couple of weeks ago , we were doing with the other support worker , we were doing some training , and you were smashing it up to the fish and chips and back and I was proud of you , I couldn't believe it , even with the heavy wind that was blowing that day . And you're saying , no , I'm getting fit for this . But you've had two games and now someone's approached you or approached mum .

Speaker 2 5:58

It was the first time .

Speaker 1 6:00

The first game they approached mum .

Speaker 2 6:06

Yeah , they approached mum . Yeah , they approached mum and they were like I can't really remember , but they put me into the Genius League .

Speaker 1 6:14

So what does that mean ?

Speaker 2 6:15

It's like the .

Speaker 1 6:22

Does that mean people are looking at you as a talent scout and stuff ? I don't know , fuck .

Speaker 2 6:31

It's just the juniors league . You know how footy has juniors league yeah . It's just juniors league .

Speaker 1 6:37

Yeah , but isn't it ?

Speaker 2 6:38

So when I'm a senior I can go up to the Paralympics , and that that's cool . Yeah , wasn't he the Australian coach , or ?

Speaker 1 6:44

something I can go up to the Paralympics and that that's cool . Yeah , wasn't he like the Australian coach , or something ?

Speaker 2 6:48

Oh , Damien , Damien something .

Speaker 1 6:52

All right , shout out to your Damien . Yeah , so he saw you and talked to mum about you .

Speaker 2 6:57

Yeah , because he's not the junior coach , he's the . He's like the men's national .

Speaker 1 7:06

Okay , here's a true-false question . Yeah , Now this podcast is called Unspoken , which means you've got to tell the truth . Okay , are you ready for this ?

Speaker 2 7:17

Okay , yeah , here's a question .

Speaker 1 7:20

Is it true that Damien came up to mum and said Declan's going to be a superstar , he's going to need a manager , and I suggest someone with two R's in his name , starting with G , should be a great mentor and someone who can carry his bags and wear an Australian tracksuit for free .

Speaker 2 7:40

Yes , yes .

Speaker 1 7:43

Why is he laughing when he says this ? Okay , here's a question for you . Would it be actually a dream of yours to make the national team ?

Speaker 2 7:54

I guess it would .

Speaker 1 7:55

Well , if you love a sport , yeah .

Speaker 2 7:58

Yeah .

Speaker 1 7:59

All right , and so for anyone else who's listening out there what days do you play ?

Speaker 2 8:08

Oh , I just do Thursdays .

Speaker 1 8:11

Yeah , sunny Coast .

Speaker 2 8:13

Yeah .

Speaker 1 8:13

Because you're based at Briby . Here , aren't you ?

Speaker 2 8:15

Yeah .

Speaker 1 8:16

Briby yeah , nice , yeah , all right . Okay , so assuming we're going to go for a fish , Yep . All right , I want to ask this personal question and it's up to you whether you want to disclose or not . Wheelchair , you want to quickly

Medical journey: Unexpected diagnosis

Speaker 1 8:30

chat about how it happened , what happened ?

Speaker 2 8:32

Oh so .

Speaker 1 8:34

It's very brave of you to openly say this , but there's a lot of people that you'll positively impact if you can be open .

Speaker 2 8:39

If I can say what it was fact , if you can be open , if I can say what it was so I think I had a artaneous venous malformation which is a tangle of blood vessels , yeah , like in my spinal cord . Yeah , that was what ? 2020 ? I think it was just before or after COVID .

Speaker 1 9:06

Yep , yep , probably right in the middle of COVID there , yeah .

Speaker 2 9:09

No 2020 ?

Speaker 1 9:12

Yeah , I think towards the end . Yeah , you're right .

Speaker 2 9:14

Yeah .

Speaker 1 9:16

And so how did you get that condition ? If you call it a condition Like , how did you get it ?

Speaker 2 9:21

Is it because you had an injury earlier ? Yeah , Let me see look , do you have to have an accident or something that to happen ? No , it's because it , um , because most of the time people who have it , they just drop dead from like getting hit oh gosh , if they play footy or something , yeah , so I could get like a bad tackle . It could . I think it was hemorrhage or something yeah yeah , but mine like leaked okay so like I woke up and I couldn't move my left leg or feel it then like a day later couldn't .

Speaker 2 10:00

Couldn't move my right leg , but I could feel it yeah I remember that , but they thought it was like an infection or something .

Speaker 1 10:10

But my mom knew it wasn't what was he saying sorry , so do you mean so mom ? Mom knew it wasn't , but doctors just thought it was just yeah the doctors I was living at emerald at the time .

Speaker 2 10:20

Yeah , the doctors there didn't think that it was like serious , but my mum told them to call what is it ? The Queensland like plane hospital service . Oh yeah yeah , to fly me to Brisbane .

Speaker 1 10:35

Flying doctors yeah .

Speaker 2 10:36

Yeah , and then they did an MRI for me at Brisbane . Yeah , what was it ? Queensland , the Brisbane .

Speaker 1 10:42

Yeah , what was ?

Speaker 2 10:43

it Queensland .

Speaker 1 10:45

The Mater Hospital or something , was it ?

Speaker 2 10:46

No , it was Queensland Children's Hospital .

Speaker 1 10:50

Yeah , yeah .

Speaker 2 10:51

QCH .

Speaker 1 10:53

Queensland Children's Hospital . It's QCH . Yeah , yeah , and so they took you there , queensland Children's Hospital , you there ? Children .

Speaker 2 11:06

Yep . So they took me there , did an MRI .

Speaker 1 11:10

Yep .

Speaker 2 11:11

They seen the tangle , yes , and they well , I don't remember this , but they did the surgery , yeah , which I think they like took out a piece of my spine , oh gosh and then they removed it and then put it back in place and like nailed it oh my god yeah , so I got a couple of screws in there .

Speaker 1 11:43

Yeah .

Speaker 2 11:44

But yeah , that was it .

Speaker 1 11:46

So basically , you did nothing wrong , nothing , it just happened to you from birth , just woke up , yeah . And then suddenly , after a certain amount of years , it just starts affecting people .

Speaker 2 11:58

You know it started to like bleed .

Speaker 1 12:01

Yeah .

Speaker 2 12:02

So then it ? I don't really know .

Speaker 1 12:05

Because you were playing contact sport , didn't you say , you liked footy too ? You were playing footy too , weren't ?

Speaker 2 12:09

you ? Yeah , I was a bit of a wuss , though , when I played footy and I could still walk .

Speaker 1 12:16

Yeah , you're not scared of the collisions . Now , though , are you ?

Speaker 2 12:19

Nah .

Speaker 1 12:19

Yeah , rugby . So I just want to know and I don't want to bring up like bad memories , but I'd love to hear , if you're open , like , what kind of what kind of feelings and moods did you go through when you found out ? If they said guess what , Declan , you're not going to walk again ?

Speaker 2 12:36

I was sad , but I was like a bit young , yeah , so I didn't really understand it fully .

Speaker 1 12:44

Yeah , you were about six or seven , then five years ago .

Speaker 2 12:50

Yeah , about that .

Speaker 1 12:54

And then what other feelings sort of went through your brain , like you were angry and frustrated . And it's not fair , because that's how I'd feel angry and frustrated and it's not fair because that's how I'd feel .

Speaker 2 13:03

Oh , it was like that for a bit , but I just grew up , yeah .

Speaker 1 13:09

So now you've sort of accepted it Nothing you can do . What did you say ? Now you've sort of accepted it now .

Speaker 2 13:12

Yeah , nothing you can do , yeah okay .

Speaker 1 13:15

Well , you've got an awesome attitude , mate , to do that positive attitude and it doesn't stop you from doing stuff Obviously a lot of stuff now Like you were with .

Speaker 1 13:21

Chet Rugby . You were going to go for a fish . You still do a few games at the moment , yeah , legend , alright . Well , we're going to go for a fish in a second . Yeah , but before we go , is there anyone you want to shout out to At school and say g'day to , if this gets on the podcast on Spotify Anyone you want to bag or you better not bag them , but anyone you want to say g'day to Nah .

Last thoughts: Jokes and final questions

Speaker 2 13:49

Actually , shout out to my brother Dejara Nice . Is he in your year level ? Nah , he's 16 , so grade 10 . Oh , your brother here yeah .

Speaker 1 13:57

Oh , I thought you meant your bro . You know , your bro mate , your bro Nah .

Speaker 2 14:02

Nice .

Speaker 1 14:02

Okay , you'll get to see hear this . We'll have to chuck him on the podcast one time , That'd be cool . Yeah , if he's awake , we'll have to wake him up and just chuck the headphones on , chuck a microphone in his face .

Speaker 2 14:11

Just oi get up , just smack him with this .

Speaker 1 14:16

Smack him with a headphone and say chuck this on . Oh , this one , oh , it's good to hear and it's good to have you in your home here , mate , and your trust here , yeah , now I don't know about you ?

Speaker 2 14:29

Are you a competitive person ? Sometimes ?

Speaker 1 14:31

Because if we go fishing now , I'll be upset if you catch more than me .

Speaker 2 14:35

You know that , don't you ?

Speaker 1 14:37

Yeah , well , such is life really . Oh , that Kelly comment . Alright , Was there anything else you want to talk about before you end the podcast ?

Speaker 2 14:43

Nah , I reckon that's it . Did a good job , mate .

Speaker 1 14:45

First time on a podcast . Nailed it .

Speaker 2 14:47

Yep , don't want to sing , nah , no , no joke of the day or anything , oh no , what is it ? You can't .

Speaker 1 15:00

I've put him on the spot here , so he's thinking of one . I like how he actually takes the time to think it means his brain's working . It's awesome . I love it .

Speaker 2 15:09

I'm trying to think of a joke .

Speaker 1 15:11

Yeah , what about if I said to you if you're stuck on a deserted island with only two people and they can't be your family members or your dogs who would the two people be , and why ?

Speaker 2 15:24

probably one would have to be a survival specialist . Good man , yes , yeah , I don't . I can't really think of one right now , and the other one probably a hot chick .

Speaker 1 15:40

Well played , well played . That's good , as long as she doesn't like the survival person , because it's only oh yeah , we'll just get a real ugly one . That's all about . Looks All right , Well played . What about if you're down to your last 20 bucks ? What would you buy Last ?

Speaker 2 15:59

2020 .

Speaker 1 16:06

I've had some good responses for this one , but last $20 .

Speaker 2 16:13

What ? Just the last $20 ever ?

Speaker 1 16:16

You've got $20 left to live off . You've only got $20 cash Only $20 to live off . You've only got $20 .

Speaker 2 16:22

Probably just buy a cheap machete and go live in the forest . Would you left to live off ? You've only got $20. , only $20 to live off .

Speaker 1 16:27

You've only got $20 . Probably just buy a cheap machete and go live in the forest , would you ? Yeah , try and kill some food . Yeah , one of the best ones I've heard is one guy said I'd buy $20 worth of Coca-Colas from . Coles and sell it for triple and keep making more money .

Speaker 2 16:38

Yeah , that would be good , but the gamble of keep getting sales would be a bit risky .

Speaker 1 16:45

You reckon , yeah , okay .

Speaker 2 16:48

And where would you store all of them ?

Speaker 1 16:51

Well , you only get $20 worth . That's only like a pack .

Speaker 2 16:55

Something like a pack . Yeah , that's true . It kind of depends on where you buy them from too . Well , that's true , you get the cheap Aldi brand .

Speaker 1 17:03

probably get a few more , but then would people buy that . Yeah , I saw you having a Coke Zero before . That's one of my favorite drinks . What about if you had your last meal ? You've been sentenced to death row .

Speaker 2 17:16

You have a meal .

Speaker 1 17:17

What is it ? And you can't say smorgasbord , because that's a cop-out . Give us something you'll last me , or what it'd be .

Speaker 2 17:24

I reckon .

Speaker 1 17:29

He's got the thinking face on again here .

Speaker 2 17:30

I wish we were videotaping this , rubbing all the small hairs on my chin right now I have to think .

Speaker 1 17:39

Declan did have a nice turkey and chips here before .

Speaker 2 17:42

It was a bit fatty , though . This is a hard question .

Speaker 1 17:52

The warden's come up to the jail cell , Declan . It's time for execution .

Speaker 2 17:57

What execution is it ? Is it lethal injection ?

Speaker 1 18:01

No , it's going to be the old electric chair .

Speaker 2 18:03

Old electric chair ?

Speaker 1 18:04

Yeah , it's not good , it's going to be a fry .

Speaker 2 18:07

Can it be firing squad ?

Speaker 1 18:09

You can't choose . We've gone off topic here a little bit . You're more interested in how you're going to die than actually going to eat .

Speaker 2 18:17

I'd probably have like I'd make them get me , like probably you know a 15 metre squid . Oh , like a big yeah , and then have one big calamari ring .

Speaker 1 18:35

Oh yeah .

Speaker 2 18:35

And just trench it in aioli and then eat that .

Speaker 1 18:38

Oh that'd be good actually .

Speaker 2 18:41

But I don't know , because of the size it could be a bit shit almost feels like I want to die now sounds good and if they can't do that , probably just uh , just a good steak oh , yes , yeah .

Speaker 1 18:55

How do you have your steak though ?

Speaker 2 18:56

oh , medium yeah perfect what sauce oh , when I'm at like the pub or something , I'll get gravy with it , but sometimes they'll do a sheet gravy , so I don't really use sauce .

Speaker 1 19:12

Okay , all right . All right , we'll get back to you . Did you think of your joke or not ?

Speaker 2 19:22

Oh , why did the pitcher get put in jail ?

Speaker 1 19:24

I don't know , but I'm laughing already . I don't know why did the pitcher get put in jail ? Declan .

Speaker 2 19:29

Because he was framed , oh God .

Speaker 1 19:33

School teacher told me that one that's great . What about ? Why was the sand wet ?

Speaker 2 19:40

Because of the tide .

Speaker 1 19:41

No , because of the seaweed .

Speaker 2 19:45

No good , it was all right .

Speaker 1 19:48

Mate , thanks for coming on the show .

Fishing plans: Time for a fish-off

Speaker 1 19:50

Yeah , appreciate you being here , and now it's time for a fish off .

Speaker 2 19:53

Yeah , I reckon I'm going to catch a three-meter flatty .

Speaker 1 19:56

Oh , that would be good . I wouldn't mind . I'm happy to fill that up if you catch that .

Speaker 2 20:00

Only like nine feet right . Nine feet , yeah , three meter .

Speaker 1 20:05

Yeah , nine feet . Probably a Guinness Book of Records there .

Speaker 2 20:09

I think the biggest was like a meter and a half .

Speaker 1 20:12

We just double it .

Speaker 2 20:13

Yeah .

Speaker 1 20:14

All right . Well , mate , thanks for coming to the show . You killed it .

Speaker 2 20:17

Smash it , all right , smash it alright , looking forward to hearing you next episode let's go for a fish now .

Speaker 1 20:23

Let's do it .