Young Blood - Men’s Mental Health Callum MacPherson

Today is World CML (chronic myeloid leukaemia) Day.


CML is a rare form of blood cancer that just over 300 Australians are diagnosed with each year.


In 2019, Michael Bowen was one of them...


 


He was on his way to work one day when he got an urgent call to come into the emergency department.


Minutes later his life changed in an instant when he was suddenly hit with the diagnosis.


The man of the house, supporting a young family, Michael's first thoughts were of his baby daughter, confronted with the question of if he was going to live to be there for her.


 


No one could be prepared for the hardship in the years that followed.


The immense mental and physical difficulty of living with cancer and the self applied pressure to get back to being the man he thought he was, sent Michael spiraling into a deep depression.


But step by step and with great support from friends and family Michael slowly dragged himself out of the pit of despair that'd all but swallowed him.


 


Now Michael's in remission and sharing his story as an ambassador for the Leukaemia Foundation.


 


September is Blood Cancer Awareness Month so if someone you love is diagnosed with blood cancer, please reach out to the Leukaemia Foundation on 1800 620 420 or visit leukaemia.org.au for help.


 


You can also join the tens of thousands of Australians impacted by blood cancer by participating in this year’s Leukaemia Foundation Light the Night event on Saturday 16 October.


Visit lightthenight.org.au for more info.

 

 

Jack Nagle was a nice, middle class kid from a supportive, loving family.


Not the background befitting the stereotype of the kind of people who destroy their lives on drugs…but that didn’t matter.


 


Jack ended his teens and started his twenties as the most hardcore drug addict imaginable and the fact he’s lived to tell the tale defies all probability.


 


Shooting up ice and heroin and swallowing fists full of prescription pills, he was brought back to life by paramedics after dealers left him to die of an overdose, only to go straight back to those same people for more drugs after checking out of hospital.


 


He was as hopeless as hopeless gets… but there’s always hope.


Not in a fantastical, too good to be true way, but the kind of hope that manifests into a rich rewarding that most in the grip of addiction would think impossible.


But it’s not impossible…


 


Now Jack’s 10 years clean and running drug education and media business Realdrugtalk being the person he really needed when he thought he was beyond help.

Dan Pronk served 4 tours of Afghanistan as a Special Operations doctor, spending many days saving and losing fellow soldiers through more than 100 combat missions.


Dan, his brother Ben and veteran, Tim Curtis, have just released their book, ‘The Resilience Shield’ - A mix of enthralling stories and practical instructions breaking down methods we can all use to build genuine resilience.


Dan thrived in the most extreme high stress environments and found the rampant intensity of battle so enticing that he felt he had to keep going back for more. 


When he was in the thick of it, witnessing all the death and destruction destruction seemed like water off a ducks back, but Dan’s trauma was building all along till it finally caught up with him. 


Dan is a prime example of post traumatic growth, the positive flip side of post traumatic stress we don’t often hear about. 


Very few of us have survived the worst of the worst like Dan has, but we all faces challenges in our lives with the potential to break us and we all need a Resilience Shield. 

Nick Bracks just published his first book 'Move Your Mind' - it's both his personal story of struggling with mental health throughout his life and a guide on how we can better equip ourselves to handle the challenges inevitably coming our way, all based on countless conversations with experts, advocates and every day people he's had over the past decade.


 


The son of the former Premier of Victoria, Nick always put a lot of pressure on himself to be exceptional but unfortunately that went hand in hand with a constant stream of obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviours that drove him to self destruction.


 


Through sheer repetition and desire, he's built himself up from being a guy who was terrified to speak in front of anyone, to presenting more than a thousands talks on mental health to audiences around the world.


 


He's an actor, an entrepreneur, a business owner and now an author, but perhaps most impressively, he's managed to still not be up himself.... that's because he hasn't forgotten why he does what he does in the first place.


 


Nick's a genuine operator and his book is well worth reading, but don't take my word for it,


You can hear for yourself!


 


***TRIGGER WARNING*** This video discusses suicide.


If you or someone you know is suicidal, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or the suicide prevention hotline in your country.

Shane Mitchell is one of Australia's most dangerous men in the octagon with a 12 and 4 professional Mixed Martial Arts record.

 

In the cage he's known for his savage knockout power...not what anyone expected from a shy kid growing up without much confidence in Adelaide's northern suburbs...


 


Shane's been a pro fighter since 2013 and now touching 30, he's still grinding to realise his dream of making it to the UFC.


He's had to overcome more than his fair share of adversity on the hard road to becoming a champion; it's taught him what matters and what he needs to stay focused.


 


From the outside looking in, we only see the glory or failure in the end result; when years of work boils down to a moment that can be over in minutes and sometimes even seconds... But rarely do we get to see inside the heads of those who have what it takes to put themselves in the arena.

Matt Morris is the chair of the South Australian Rainbow Advocacy Alliance, working for the rights of the LGBTIQ community.


 


Matt realised he was bisexual/pansexual in his teens, but it took him years to work up the courage to come out.


Fortunately his sexuality was accepted by his friends and family but that hasn’t been the case for others he knows.


 


Matt’s always felt called to help those who really need it, he’s worked the phones for Lifeline in suicide prevention, advocated for the homeless and was fired up to step into his current role after witnessing the damaging impact of homophobia and transphobia during the marriage equality debate.