Dean McHardie

PATIENT STORIES - DEAN MCHARDIE

Growing up on the south coast of NSW, I spent a lot of my younger years at the beach without a care in the world. The surf and sun was what it was all about. 

Unfortunately, that all changed.

At 38, I was a training officer, working with mine rescue teams as a retained firefighter with Fire & Rescue. I was loving life and family. And then I was diagnosed with a basal cell carcinoma (BCC) on my right shoulder, with only one option given to me by the surgeon – a forequarter amputation. Not knowing what lay in front of me or even what a forequarter amputation was, or how a BCC could be this aggressive. 

On the 23rd of December 2014, my life changed forever. After 12 hours of surgery, I was less one arm. No longer able to work in either of the fields I had worked in for many years, I faced a dilemma – what was next? How would I provide for my family? But the adventure had only just begun.

I kept thinking: how can this be, how is this possible? Why me? I’m sure I’m not the first person to ask themselves these questions, and I won’t be the last.

My journey as an amputee was only just beginning. Dealing with depression, I turned to running to cope with what had happened. I did numerous ultra marathons and triathlons and had the privilege of wearing the green and gold for Australia at para triathlons. That has been a major highlight. 

But let me be a lesson. Get a skin check because this can happen to anyone.

Dean McHardie