Episode 52 – Ren Pedersen (Part 2): Pain into Purpose

Episode 52 – Ren Pedersen (Part 2): Pain into Purpose

In Part 2 of this powerful conversation, Buzz sits back down with Ren Pedersen to go deeper into the mission, the mindset, and the fight that grew from unimaginable loss.

After sharing the heartbreak of losing his daughter Amy to DIPG in Part 1, Ren now opens up about what came next — rebuilding after devastation, recalibrating through divorce and burnout, earning his commercial helicopter licence in his fifties, and returning to unfinished business with a mission that is now creating real hope for families facing childhood brain cancer.

This episode dives into Ren’s Million Dollar Mission, the rise of DIPG research in Australia, the power of purpose, and the incredible momentum behind the cause — including the huge support of the Nielsen Foundation’s $250,000 donation.

More than just a story about grief, this is a story about resilience, service, support, and refusing to stay down when life has every right to expect you to.

This episode is also being released on the anniversary of Amy’s passing, making this conversation even more meaningful as we honour her life and the legacy that continues to help children and families around the world.

In this episode, we cover:

•  Rebuilding after loss, divorce, and burnout 
•  Why Ren got his commercial helicopter licence in his fifties 
•  The creation of Ren’s Million Dollar Mission
•  Raising serious money for DIPG research in Australia 
•  The $250,000 Nielsen Foundation donation
•  Support, resilience, recalibration, and purpose 
•  Why families facing DIPG today have more hope than ever before 

A raw, inspiring, and deeply human conversation about not staying down.

Please take a moment for Amy today — and if this story moves you, support Ren’s Million Dollar Mission and help keep the fight going.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 1:25

Yay, legends, and welcome back to Who is Your Hero? This is part two of my conversation with Ren Peterson. And if you heard part one, you already know this is not just another podcast chat. This is one of those stories that grabs you by the guts and stays with you. In part one, we went, we met the man behind the mission. Not the headlines, not the title, not the order of Australia, not the recognition. We met Ren, the Birkinham boy, the crane driver, the father, the bloke who grew up on Lawly, values and work and belief that if you give your word, you stand by it, and a bloody good handshake is enough. Then we walked into the darkest chapter any parent could ever face. The diagnosis of his beautiful daughter Amy with DIPG, one of the most aggressive childhood brain cancers in the world. We heard what that did to a father, what it did to a family, and what it did to hope. But more than anything, we heard the birth of something bigger than heartbreak. Because when life hit Ren with the kind of pain that would bury a man forever, he didn't just curl up and disappear. He made a promise, and a promise became a mission. A mission born from grief, built on love and powered by a refusal. Tragedy be the last word. And that's what makes this second part so bloody powerful. Because this is where the story shifts, where the pain turns into action, where the heartbreak turns into momentum. This is where one father fight becomes something that starts moving labs, doctors, communities, and serious money. And when I say serious money, I mean it. You'll hear in this episode the incredible support behind Ren's million dollar mission, including a massive$250,000 donation from the Nielsen Foundation. A huge vote of confidence in what Ren and Megan are building and proof that purpose is real. People back it. That donation didn't just fall from the sky. It came because people can see something in Wren. They can see truth, they can see grit. They can see that this mission isn't built on talk, it's built on action. And that's the thing about Ren. He's not polished, he's certainly not fake, and he's not trying to be anything he's not. He's a bloke who looks you in the eye and means what he says. You heard it in part one, and you'll feel it again in part two. One of the great lines of this whole whole conversation comes from the way he dealt with the medical world when his daughter was first diagnosed. When he felt the doubt, the distance, the sense that maybe people had already written the story before the fight had properly begun. Ren pulled the doctor to side and basically said, We're gonna row this bloody canoe together. We all paddle or we fight at another boat. And that, my friends, is Ren Peterson in one line. No fluff, no surrender, no sitting back waiting for someone to save the day. Just get in the boat, grab an oar, and let's fight. That same energy drives this whole episode. Because in this chapter, we talk about what came next after the storm. We talk about the rebuilding, about the burnout, we talk about the purpose, and we talk about recalibrating when life has absolutely belted you in the balls. You're gonna hear Bloke in his 50s, in the middle of a divorce, chaos, pressure, grief, business, and unfinished business with chadywork decided to go out and get his commercial helicopter license? Not because life was simple, not because he had any spare time, but because some people don't know how to quit. They only know how reset and come again. You'll hear how Ren stepped back, realized the true size of what he already had built, then came charging back with fresh fire. You'll hear about the bigger picture too, how DIPG went from barely being recognized here in Australia to now having real research, real momentum, real hope, and real treatments getting closer than ever before. And for anyone listening who's gone through hell right now, divorced, sickness, loss, bankruptcy, burnout, grief, or just have that heavy fog when you can't see what's next. There is gold in this conversation for you too. Because this isn't just a story about Charles Mentor. It's a story about not tying down. About what happens when you hit round zero out of time to retail anyway. It's about hanging in there long enough to stay down to the light, get brighter. This is a conversation about a mission of the bazillion to the four and the power of not giving up. This is episode 52. Ren Peterson, part two. And now we pick it up right where we left off.

SPEAKER_03 6:57

Age of 52 or 53. And I hadn't been in school. What is buy that? Well, a challenge. I was at Stock Lee in this one day, and I phoned up a mate of mine, Dino Arnold, who owned towns with helicopters. And I think I was phoning him for a um a charity prize. Might have been the golf day, you know, give us a light or something. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I said to him, Dick, ah, I should go for for my chocker's license one day. And Dex says, Ren, everyone says that. Whatever. I said, Well, I think I could do it. He goes, Well, you're not the type of guy who doesn't walk right at all. I said, Well, when's the next course on? He said, What course do you want to do? I said, Well, what's the toughest course in aviation? He said, Well, commercial helicopter pilots is the is the the ultimate course. I said, Well, book me in for the next one. He said, This is a Friday afternoon. He said, it starts Monday. Oh, no. So on the Monday morning, I did my little crane job by planting a crane up in front of his uh hangar at Townshill Airport. And I'm in my 50s sitting with all these 20-year-old alpha males, you know. Like, I know nothing about age.

SPEAKER_01 8:03

Were were you a good student? Not really.

SPEAKER_03 8:05

No. Like I had to learn how to learn thus. Like I hadn't been skipper by Dominic. But I I I stuck with it. I um I did it. It took me two two years. 'Cause in the middle it was in the middle of a divorce, I had a young son, had a crane business out of charity. You know, just throw something up mix. I love it. Even my wife at the time she wouldn't let me study in the house because I had too much on, she wasn't happy with it. So I used to have to wake up early to go into parts and study in the park before I drove the train before I went to do the course. It was a challenging time. Yes. I did it. But then when I did it, I wanted to get back and finish unfinished business with the charity. So I resigned from my creatures charity, and then the Children's Cancer Institute um have discovered this this drug they they're undertaking this drug program now, but are queuing the mice in the lab. So they sent me an email, Ren, just want to let you know you were the you know help start this. So we're just giving you an update. So I thought, well, I said to them, how much money to get this bloody drug delivered to the kids in the bedside?

SPEAKER_01 9:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:19

How are we gonna finish this lift? It's starting the lift, how are we gonna lift it up? What are that talks for? What do you need? Oh well, I said we need five million bucks. I said, Well, look, to get to this stage one, I said, look, I'm not gonna commit to five. No, I can't do that, but give me a crack at a million. So um from last year I I formed Ren's Million Dollar Mission, which is essentially raising money for the uh the DIPG researchers at the Children's Cancer Institute clubs. And last year, um, with the help of my partner Megan, we raised half a million dollars last year, which is a lot of money from Townsville, you know, based on it's just from Townsville for you. Yeah, I've got friends all over the council. Yeah, but that's that's pretty much from some here.

SPEAKER_02 10:02

So when was when was uh when did you realize that and you'd probably said it then it just became something much bigger than you?

SPEAKER_03 10:12

Well when I when I tapped out in about 2022, when I sort of walked away and you're getting all the when you're that mouse in the turnstile, you kind of don't appreciate what's happening all around you, I guess. Then when I stopped um and I hadn't answered my emails for a little while, apparently in Mendel maybe six months, I had like five and a half thousand emails that were left unanswered um from all over. Then I'm getting updates from all these other labs that they're starting up and and I'm getting these postdocs, these young scientists contacting me saying thank thanking me for for starting their their field. So it was kind of let me just take a step back. You know, if you watch a beautiful sunset every day, you'll probably don't appreciate it. Then if you live in the dark and come back after a year and say, that is a nice sunset. You know what I mean? So it empowered me when I had that dwelling. It's an awakening, isn't it? Well it is, mate. I had that time off of it, yeah. I f I do feel like started some work here. Yeah, and if I get hit by a bus tomorrow, there's so much good things happening here in Australia now. Yeah, it's all gonna carry on regardless. So I've kind of gone from starting this a lot of this stuff to I'm on the fringes now, I'm just raising money, I'm not getting involved with the science so much. Yeah. Because there's a lot of smart people. They're doing that, yeah. They're strengths and weaknesses. You know, DuIPG wasn't even an illness in Australia, so to have it recognized is is pretty special. It all still's from my daughter, you know. Yeah. She's probably my she's she's the hero of all this. Some incredible news broke for you and uh Legan. The Nielsen Foundation, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I'm on the money there, donated a quarter of a million dollars. So that was um late last year, yeah. Uh is he's a he's a um um semi-retired um uh he used to own platinum investments. Google Kerr Nielsen and we'll send him that. This is a this is Australian? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Uh uh born in South Africa, based in Australia. Kerr and myself could not be two opposite people, and I say that respectfully, but we have a mutual friend who connected us, and it's funny you can shake a guy's hand or look him in the eye. Um, and that's primarily how we operate.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

And we don't have to be all alike, do we? No, to do something. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:40

You know, we don't have to sit down and look, you ask me questions, we don't have to submit me stuff to answer. I don't have to submit them up yes, look, you could just get shit up.

SPEAKER_02 12:49

This episode of Who is Your Hero is proudly recorded at one of Townsell's absolute gems, the Seabar restaurant right on the strand. And let me tell you, legends, what a spot! A beautiful food, beautiful stuff, beautiful views straight across to Magnetic Island, and most importantly, beautiful people behind the scenes. Seabar isn't just a place to grab a meal or a drink, it's a place that genuinely backs the community. They've been great supporters of Wren's Million Dollar Mission, and they were kind enough to host this powerful conversation with Ren Peterson in a setting that matched the story. Quality, class, warmth, and heart. So whether you're chasing a coffee, a long lunch, dinner with a view, or you just want to sit back with a drink and soak in one of the best outlooks Townsville has to offer, get yourself down to the C-Bar on the Strand. Support the people who support the community, support the people who open their doors for great causes, and support a venue that does things the right way. C-Bar restaurant, great food, great people, great heart. And tell them buzz send you. I think we uh let's digress off the quote for a little bit. I think we discussed that a bit earlier. Life's got a bit precious, isn't it? Oh you know, like you could get sued for fucking saying this or saying Oh come on. You know, harden up.

SPEAKER_03 14:20

Just harden up, you know. And people are respectful and um Kerr showed me the respect and I I I I took Kerr on a tour of the labs. Um this was something totally foreign to him. He's in the invest he's an investment um analyst in Danka. We're searched for children's brain cancers, not on his tip at all. Uh Kerr looked me in the eye and said he would turn up and I showed him around, and then at the end of it he just shook hands and then I got a little email from Kerr, you know, thanks for that, mate. I'll I'll throw you a quarter million bucks. So that's a that's a big badge of honor for us that we can hopefully feed off over over the five months. Five million mightn't be that but I'm not gonna promise to crack. But I will get the million, I'll crack it.

SPEAKER_02 15:05

Yeah. Everyone everyone has a why. Well in in the games we're playing, the why is so much more important than anything for wealth, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 15:20

Those people will listen to this and they'll see, you know, not only my mission or or or other stuff going on. I can tell you now, because I'd I'd walk this path, parents will feel strength from this because when our daughter was diagnosed, there was nothing, man. There was nothing. You thought you were the only one to an extent ostra ostracized, you know, but that's not happening now. There are support avenues out there and and you know what? We can just find as it did with leukemia and other ailments, things can happen virtually over. So anyone with uh in in brain cancer or cancer force, hang in there, man, because especially with AI, there's positive aspects that is fast tracking treatments. So as opposed to having researchers over with with and annually doing stuff, things are happening faster in medical history now than ever before.

SPEAKER_02 16:10

Yeah, it's uh that's another whole topic, the AI, it's amazing, isn't it? What what it's teaching us and my partner Carly, you know, once again, there's another blessing I got. I've had a of a couple of tries at relationships that haven't been quite successful at them. And I don't blame her because it's pretty hard to live with me. Um and as I got while I was well, I got uh to Well, delivered sounds strange, but she guess what I'm talking about. She's a kinesiologist, natural linguistic people programmer, holistic carer. She teases it around the world and she's a bloody cutie too, but her personality is just something I didn't know I needed, but then I got diagnosed and my kidneys was and she's been on this journey with me. So I'm I I must say and and I've been really big on this the last couple of months is the bloke who's suffering all the there's someone behind them that's helped you, and you're you're talking about Megan at the moment, how how powerful she's she saved my life.

SPEAKER_03 17:16

You know, I was, you know uh I was in the depths of the oh I had nothing to live for.

SPEAKER_02 17:21

You know? Yeah. And we often forget about uh that that person in in the man's growth or comeback.

SPEAKER_03 17:28

Yeah, absolutely. To to go home at night and to have someone who has your back anything you need.

SPEAKER_02 17:35

She comes on the podcast.

SPEAKER_03 17:36

Yeah, I never had that, and how good is it? Yes.

SPEAKER_02 17:39

Nah and that I And I'm not bagging my exes out because that was a time when I probably wasn't quite right myself. But I am a little bit because they didn't understand me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:52

You feel young again emotionally. You know, like I I've never known sort of get two deeds of stuff, but I've never known soulfulness as I do now.

SPEAKER_02 18:02

I don't. No? Yeah. Never, never. I'm I'm getting what you're saying. And do you know what? This is I've I've had some pretty good businesses and I've I've lost a couple. I've had zero. I've lost houses, farms, you know. I've done I've done the whole the whole shebang and it's common knowledge, and this podcast, every time I talk, gets more out of me, so people understand zero's not that bad. I often say this, and you would have heard it, I have the least amount of money I've ever had in my life. But man, I'm the happiest. That's crazy, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 18:34

Material things are essentially. They're nothing. They could go tomorrow.

SPEAKER_02 18:38

Well, the uh the bank can take your house tomorrow. You know, with the cost of living, the whole the whole family value's breaking up. There's so many listeners listening to this podcast. It could happen to you tomorrow, right? And it and if if if you're living in something that you know it's gonna happen, do you know what I say to people? And it's a very t just go to ground zero. Because the weight you know what I'm talking about, eh? Yeah, you can't go any lower. Nah. Can't go any lower. And then and then you you end up bankrupt twice, having a crack, man. And you end up all this stress and probably call it help my kidneys fail, and then it's gone. And you don't walk away from your failures, you gotta learn from them, but then you go, right, what's next? It's a actually really life-changing feeling, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 19:28

It is. So how do we f for s for some person who's going through the end of a a divorce and it is the world can't get any worse? How do we convince them just hang in there that one more day? That's it. That one more day listen to podcasts, I guess, because the door will open. It does. Eventually. Eventually. But it's hard when you're in that spot.

SPEAKER_02 19:53

Yeah, the f do you know the first time I went broke, I was uh 24, playing Major League football. I got into a palette business with uh Jimmy Buckley. He played about 300 games to Carlton and he is a bit of a shenanigans, but he he taught his favorite song was get a little dirt on your hands. Yeah, yeah. And I I could still recite. Yeah, I could still re it's a great song. When you grow up to be a big, big man, you gotta get But I was borrowed to the devil with him, and I it was in pretty big business and it failed, and I I I lost a lot, lost a house out of it and all that at that age. And I thought the world was caving in on me. I couldn't go to supermarkets because I thought everyone did. No one fucking knew.

SPEAKER_03 20:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:34

You know what I mean? And I'm thinking, oh, he's oh, he's the guy that just went broke. No one fucking knew, and you know what? No one really gives a fuck. And the people that rang me up back then, successful business and I didn't know, locally in Ballarat. Hames it's a big pain. It was a family but yeah, David's rang me up, and I don't think it would have been the old David. Never met him from a borough, so he said, How you doing? And I go, shit out. I've been broke twice. I just wanted to check on ya and look at him now. So the moral of that story is you're not the first, you won't be the last. It's a hard thing to say, but get out of fucking bed and go and make something happen. Exactly. And it's hard love. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:27

And you look at that now, you're laughing now. Or you know, respectfully enough. Yeah. Back then, you know, you think life is not worth living. And you will, you know, you just sort of when going through hell plow on. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:40

Um let's keep moving to the positive manner, and that that stuff really is is positive for our listeners. So carrying a mission like you're carrying takes emotional strength. If you tell me you went and did a commercial, that's like blown me away. How do you keep going on the is Is there any tough days? This film do you do you keep going on the table, you keep going? You know, they're getting less and less.

SPEAKER_03 22:05

Yeah. Um beer beer helps. Does help. Yeah, I used to have bad nightmares and all that. They probably have some syndrome for some shit or whatever. Like, yeah, but I don't have so many nightmares anymore because I've got this support at home as well.

SPEAKER_02 22:20

Yeah, so um, it's proudly recorded at one of Townsell's absolute gems. The Seabar restaurant right on the strand. And let me tell you, legends, what a spot. Beautiful food, beautiful stuff, beautiful views straight across to Magnetic Island, and most importantly, beautiful people behind the scenes. Seabar isn't just a place to grab a meal or a drink, it's a place that genuinely backs the community. They've been great supporters of Wren's Million Dollar Mission, and they were kind enough to host this powerful conversation with Ren Peterson in a setting that matched the story. Quality, class, warmth, and heart. So whether you're chasing a coffee along lunch, dinner with a view, or you just want to sit back with a drink and soak in one of the best outlooks Townsville has to offer, get yourself down at the C-Bar on the Strand. Support the people who support the community, support the people who open their doors for great causes, and support a venue that does things the right way. C Bar Restaurant, great food, great people, great heart. And Talum Buzz Sendya.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

They're getting better.

SPEAKER_03 23:37

Getting much better. Yeah, yeah. I'm good now. But yeah, it's the gear just fakes and all and just wait on through, you know. It's not as hard as as his kids enjoy it, you know. You think it's more it's more mental than sort of like I'm pretty good citizen.

SPEAKER_02 23:51

So now I I um there's there's a uh young girl in towns for Lena, and she won't mind me talking about her because she came on the podcast. I met her in the North Ward here when I was on hemodialysis. Julie Hogman. She's 23, man. And going to that renal ward four times a week for four hours or five hours getting blood. She tried PD, it didn't work, but I'm on. But I she's gonna get a kidney before me, and I don't really give a fuck. I mean, uh obviously kidneys are about blood types and all that, but what blood type are you? A weird or something like that.

SPEAKER_03 24:34

It's one of those weird ones.

SPEAKER_04 24:40

I I walked inside and my mom pulled me up, and then I was like, crap, I haven't put the boys' daughter three days. So anyway, I'm that's all right. Thanks, eh? Everyone just wants a place not a year. You running the show. Yeah, I think I'm gonna change my name. What's it in the car?

SPEAKER_03 25:00

Change it to a unit together, can't say it'll be like uh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:04

Well, it feels like mum, you know, like mum, mum, mum. Everyone's in around what do you want cross? What I can't do your dog or any call.

SPEAKER_02 25:12

Do you know do you know I had a a a mate of mine that ran a V company and he used to get these phone calls and phone calls and phone calls, and he's he just ended up bringing all his staff in and saying before you ring me, think of three possible outcomes. Come to me with them. And you ring me with those three possible and guess what, his phone stopped ringing. Solutions, not properly. Because it's in it, and you're soul and you're poor. So say to your staff, What do you think you should do? No, can't think of three things before you ask me.

SPEAKER_04 25:49

And you're gonna back right or wrong, aren't you? And look, one of them's probably gonna work, and it may not be my way, but it'll work, right? It'll get them through. Yeah, I like that. And I think stealer. I'ma steal it, I'ma see if it works. You can keep your name. Oh, it's true. I've had it for a while. Like, you know, only 25 years. Oh uh that well, she gets a selfie with me every time she comes in. She's so lovely. So that was just last week. Like in the weekend or something, I think. But every time she comes in, she's like, Hey, I'm like, yeah, the other selfie, let's do it. Then she looks it up. She's a lovely person. She has a big like workload in her hands, big jobs. Look at what she's doing now. Big emotional tolls. And all those tolls or all that.

SPEAKER_03 26:41

Rabbi Shang.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

Who who's you?

SPEAKER_03 26:43

Um Kathleen Walsh. So she was she was um uh it's a prominent story now that three father, whatever he's third. Father, you know, David David. So she was molested as a child in that Catholic education, and she's she's been fighting to get this guy eight foot on on up here in Tanzel. Yeah, yep. And he's finally got up. And he's defend all I've seen that on tally. Yeah, yeah, well, she was the one one of them. There's a wrath.

SPEAKER_04 27:13

There's a lot. Yeah. But she she fought and fought for it.

SPEAKER_03 27:17

So she's one of the guy. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, she's going, but then she she started on the foundational support for people living in her similar situation. And she's just getting and she reports new stuff on pedophile.

SPEAKER_04 27:29

Yeah, she likes she so she brings her mine. I don't know what you call it. In her. Yeah, yeah. Um, she's like, this is a like such a relaxing scene. Yeah. You know, I could take him, she's always like penis at a table and they further away, so I'm like, hold her up the end or something like no, because they're obviously about through some sense of the stuff.

SPEAKER_03 27:49

She was the support thing for these people, but she also gets all these trolls. You know, somebody might Oh, I could imagine it.

SPEAKER_02 27:55

Half a church dying hard away, or whatever. Yeah, no, but half of half of these trolls on the internet aren't real. We got a photo of a cat or a dog. I know that won't present.

SPEAKER_03 28:04

She tried to rebut them. She says, No one's getting over me, you know. So she was she'll keep returning Sir, poor thing, and that must be draining for her, you know.

SPEAKER_04 28:13

She messaged me one day and she said, Do you think it Am I doing the right people? Do you think that I'm doing so? And I was like, No. I said, Yes, it'd be awesome. I said, You're out. Sure, you're doing some work that a lot of people would she do it? Yeah, yeah, she'd do it. And she was she's she'll Turkish.

SPEAKER_01 28:35

Well, all up. I've got some I've got some it's very close to me from Danny Ballarat.

SPEAKER_04 28:40

Yeah, yeah. Well she's like full of life. She's garbage, yeah, yeah. But you you know, after watching the video too, she's cut she's like how. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:51

Yeah, he's reclaiming her life. And he lived and her can you give her score she lived with her mother with this this this this mum that the priest is. Then he got like they finally got in now. And it's the L thing. Same with the Pelster. They chase back thirty years of of of what's your testimony? Thirty years against the dates. The dates on the pins down.

SPEAKER_02 29:14

She's They're the victim and they come the perpetrator and everything, don't they?

SPEAKER_03 29:19

She's turning it around for the good of others, so she's got a thing called the crack on C-R-A-I-G, which is uh is that C-R-A-I-G on O N foundation. So that's an I crack on. Yeah, yeah. So I I I would assume that um Kathleen has some sort of Irish heritage or whatever. But it's just there for people who experienced tough times in that in that space. Uh she's a she's a very good lady.

SPEAKER_02 29:48

You you obviously with your upbringing a resilient character anyway, I can see that in you like but but what's this? Um you learn you learn a lot more through this journey?

SPEAKER_01 30:00

I have I've You're not a squitter, eh?

SPEAKER_03 30:03

Mate, my mate, I'm a proud Aussie, right? Yeah. My I'm twelfth generation Australian. The eighth of twelfth generation Australian that came out in 1792. And I have to think, how far back you go before you could say you're an average? Like before you are, yeah. My 12th generation. I know John Warby, my uh eight times grandfather came out in 1792, and his wife Sarah Bentley came out on the indispensable in 1796. So we go back, like how far back you go before you are I'm I'm proud of this country, and I'm um I feel the country's out of me. I love Australia. Right? I have a very um My granddad was a timber cutter. Yeah, you talk about resilience, he was the toughest man. And he's kind of in hindsight, I haven't appreciated until his passing how tough he was, and I think there's something in it in the genetics of that side of the family that you do just you just dust yourself off and you just keep going. You just keep going. But there are times when you do fall down that you've just got to get up, dust yourself, and recalibrate, you know. Uh so in the last 20 years I've had sort of 18 months of that doing that bloody helicopter thing that was attempted recalibration. So I'm trying to put the clock in the haywire, but I'm back into space and um So do you did you pull yourself away from a lot of people? Yeah, I just shut it up. Yeah, all I had left after 20 years' marriage was a beach hub. So I just went and lived in my beach hub for two years. Yeah. Like a hermit.

SPEAKER_01 31:47

Um you know, so all this can be gone in a in the blink, can't it? What what is that?

SPEAKER_03 31:52

All the material in minimal when I first moved there I had no internet. I had a scratchy mobile photo option so that I'll just concentrate on this pilots thing, get that out of the road. But that was hard too, but it gave me something to focus on. Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:08

What would you say to any parent currently going through something similar?

SPEAKER_03 32:12

Oh, I would say hang in there, get a doctor or a caregiver that you can look in the eye and you have full confidence with. Uh, you need someone and a shout out to Will Fishman here in Townsville. He was our pediatrician who who went into bat for us, us. Mate he ripper. Mate, he was a ripper. We had big four that at the start. You want to waste my time and everyone's time? Why don't us help this girl that's gonna die? And I pulled him aside. And my exact phrase was listen, Frisch, we're all gonna row this fucking canoe against the carrot. We all gotta paddle together. Now you're either in this boat with me, they're gonna try and save this kid, or get the fuck in and I'll get another boat. That's exactly what I said. Excuse the French.

SPEAKER_01 32:57

Love it.

SPEAKER_03 32:57

And it worked. Um there was instant respect there. He put aside a lot of his um um uh personal opinions because you know he has seen brain cancer kids come and go before, but um my daughter passed away, but the legacy of from her and and and so many others is that there's research happening in here in Australia and the treatments uh are very close to being delivered. Wow. Yeah. From nothing. From nothing. So there's there is when my daughter was cooked, there was light at the end of the tunnel. Now that light is getting brighter and it's actually about to be delivered used treatments. So that's yeah, so hang in here.

SPEAKER_02 33:37

So you didn't you didn't really understand when you gave it away for a bit, you didn't really understand what you'd put in before you you nearly didn't make it. Not really. You're just you're just keeping you just a constant grind and all that. Wow. But then you I often say to people, one of the biggest things to do is to get going again, is to stop. This is in everyday life. Take a deep breath. Now that deep breath could be two hours, yeah, it could be six months. Take a deep breath, have a look what you got. Yeah. And then come back.

SPEAKER_03 34:09

That's fantastic advice, but I never did that. I did I just ever used to. And I was gonna burn out I was probably about one percent off total burnout. Just gone. So now I I'm back in the I'm back in full business realm, I'm back in full charity sphere. And if I want to come and have a coffee with a mate, personal interactions, I don't know. Never say no to catching up with people. Never say no.

SPEAKER_01 34:39

Storytelling.

SPEAKER_03 34:40

Megan Peter, look sharing a coffee, sharing emotions with them, mate. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 34:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:45

You know.

SPEAKER_02 34:46

Do you know I've only done two podcasts?

SPEAKER_03 34:48

Look at we'd have been here today.

SPEAKER_02 34:50

Look at this. You know, the staff here again, it's it's incredible. And you learn stories from them. You know, we just had an instant which which I'll leave in the podcast as I learned. But you know, this is the second podcast I've done face to face. Other than McKee. I wanted to beat him too. Now what I learned what I learned out of um McBarthy was by doing it face to face, I've got a so much better gauge on connection and how I'm going. And and but Tim, when I asked him the question if your father was sitting next to us right now, how would he feel? Now doing that over a Zoom or and I've looked at Tim and he's he's adjusted himself, but I knew within him that fuck dad's proud of me. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? And and I'm saying that and sitting here with you, if we did this story via Zoom, there's no way none of the connections flowed, is either.

SPEAKER_03 35:49

You're good. One will go.

SPEAKER_02 35:51

And that legends is where we're gonna land this plane for part two of the Ren Peterson story. What a conversation, what a man, and what a reminder of what the human spirit is actually capable of when life has every right to break you. Over these two episodes, you've heard the story of Ren Peterson. Not just the public story, not just the mission, not just the fundraising headlines, but the man underneath it all. The father, the fighter, the bloke from the Birkaden, the crane driver, the straight shooter, the man who's walked through every parent's worst nightmare, and somehow found a way to turn that pain into purpose. And that phrase, pain into purpose, is not just a catchy title, it's what this whole story is. Because what Ren has done here is bigger than fundraising. He has taken heartbreak and turned it into hope. He has taken grief and turned it into a movement. He has taken a promise made in the darkest chapter of his life, and he's kept swinging for it. Year after year. When we really sit with that, that's bloody powerful. Because most people, after what Ren and his family went through, would have every excuse in the world to step back, go quiet, shut the door, and never come back out. But not him. He kept rowing that boat. That line will stay with me for a long time. But he pulled the doctor aside and said, in buzz terms, we all in this bloody footing canoe together. So grab an oar and a paddle. That's not a line about medicine. That's not a line about life. That's about backing each other. That's about fighting together. It's about not leaving people to drift on their own when the current is against them. And today, as this episode goes live, there's another layer to all of this that matters deeply. This episode has been launched on the anniversary of Amy's party. So before you scroll on, before we want to make the party a day, I just want everyone listening to take a moment. A real moment for Amy. For her memory, for the love of a father, for the heartbreak of a family, and for every child and every parent who has ever had to walk a road like this. Just pause. Take a deep breath. Because behind every mission, behind every fundraiser, behind every research dollar, behind every handshake and every speech and every event, there was a little girl. A little girl who mattered. A little girl who was loved beyond words. A little girl's life has left a legacy that is now helping children and families. She will never meet. That's not nothing. That's extraordinary. And maybe that's the real message of this whole series. That even when life feels cruelly short, it can still echo. It can still matter. It can still change the world. Amy's legacy is doing exactly that. So, Ren, mate, thank you again. Thank you for being honest. Thank you for your grit. Thank you for your burkett and humour. Thank you for your vulnerability. And thank you for trusting me, trusting this platform, and trusting this tribe with a story that carries so much weight. You've not just raised money, mate, you've raised awareness, you've raised hope. And you've helped make sure that other parents hearing those awful words today are not hearing them in the same silence that you once did. That matters more than you probably even know. And now, legends, here's where you come in. If this episode moved you, if Ren's story hit you in the chest, if Amy's legacy means something to you, then don't just sit here feeling it. Do something with it. Please support Ren's Million Dollar Mission. Every dollar helps push research forward. Every dollar helps move treatment closer. Every dollar says to families in this fight, you are not alone. If you want to donate, jump on Ren's social pages and mission pages and look for Ren's Million Dollar Mission, donation links, fundraising events, and ways to contribute. Support the raffles, support the event, share the story and spread the word. I strongly suggest dropping it in the episode notes. On Facebook posts and under every promo for this episode. Because this is exactly the kind of story people want to back. Because this is bigger than one family now. This is bigger than one town. Bigger than one diagnosis. This is about giving kids a fighting chance. This is about giving parents hope. This is about refusing to accept. That's just the way it is. But there's still work to be done. And to anyone listening out there who's in the middle of their own storm right now, maybe your own grand zero, maybe gross, maybe sickness, maybe divorce, maybe bankruptcy, maybe third out, maybe just start on fellows.