104 Breathe Beyond Limits The Bradley Dryburgh Story

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I'm Mike Boris and this is Straight Talk.

I've been taller up until this,

this point in my life, Mark.

But if you ever cough up blood,

it's a matter of get to emergency immediately

or you could bleed out and die.

I remember realizing that my mum and my sister

weren't in the car.

How do you tell your sister that

you're having your final moments?

Cystic fibrosis was something that inflicted itself on you

when you were a young boy.

How have you managed to turn out the way you've turned out?

You have to accept the fact that life is unfair

and sometimes those cards that you're dealt

aren't going to be the ones that you wish they were.

But I know for sure throwing your cards into the middle

and putting your hands up and walking away from that table

can get you nothing.

It's not what happens to you, it's how you respond to it.

I was living proof that defying the odds is not impossible.

What you believe about yourself is what you become.

Bradley Driver, welcome to Straight Talk, mate.

Pleasure to be here, Mark.

Driver as an Edinburgh.

Yes, very well done.

Good to see you again.

Last time I saw you was, I don't know, when was it?

What was the date?

Was it this year?

Yeah, it was this year.

It was, I think it was early March.

It was, I guess, an uncommonly hot day in March at Lunar Park.

At Lunar Park, I remember it.

And we were both there at...

Yeah, Humankind.

Humankind.

Here you've got this sort of ball of energy

sort of sitting in the room there.

I'm thinking, who's this dude?

What's going on?

And somehow you managed to negotiate meeting up again,

like it was just, it was like a pretty full-on thing.

You're a full-on guy, like your energy, energy.

How old are you?

27.

27 now.

And I do recall that cystic fibrosis was something that, you know,

you inflicted itself on you when you were a young man,

a young boy, not a young man, young kid.

I just want to get to the bottom of that.

So I don't really understand what cystic fibrosis is.

I've got a sense of it.

It relates to your lungs, but I don't know any more than that.

Yeah, so cystic fibrosis is,

it's a degenerative but also genetic disease.

So it's something that you are born with.

So people always ask me, can I catch that off you?

No, you can't.

You're well and truly safe.

But it's something that around 3,600 to 4,000 Aussies live with.

So every four days a baby is born with CF.

And essentially it's a defective gene that stops the chloride channel

from providing salt and water to the organs in the body.

And essentially what that does when it works effectively

is it allows mucus, which moves.

We think of mucus as something that sits in our respiratory system.

You know, it's what you get when you've got a bit of a cold or a flu

and it sits on your lungs or it impedes your sort of nasal passage.

But essentially mucus moves throughout the entire body.

And where that gene doesn't work effectively,

the mucus gets thicker and stickier

and tends to clog up and impair the function of those organs.

So we see that typically in the lungs, you know,

99% of people who have cystic fibrosis have degenerative lung disease

where they're coughing up a lot of mucus consistently.

Their lungs become quite scarred.

Their lung function and capacity is reduced.

It makes it really hard to breathe doing, you know, quite often simple tasks.

So something as simple as walking up a set of stairs

or just, you know, walking up the street to get a coffee

can be quite difficult for someone with CF.

But it also affects a number of different functions in the body as well.

So a majority of people with CF,

myself being, you know, included in this,

have pancreatic insufficiency,

which means usually when we eat something with protein or fat,

the body will, when we eat carbs, for example,

you know, you might have a piece of fruit

that has had an apple on the way in,

you know, your body would release enzyme through saliva

to break down carbohydrates.

And that breakdown and digestion process begins in the saliva with carbs.

When it comes to protein and fat, it happens in the gut.

Now, usually the pancreas would release digestive enzyme

that it creates.

It's not the pancreas itself to do that,

to take on the nutrients of that food and break it down.

For someone with CF, you don't create digestive enzyme.

So, you know, for a long time, I took 50 tablets a day,

30 of those from a very young age being digestive enzyme.

And so we tend to see if you talk about symptoms,

you know, they say that people with cystic fibrosis cough a lot.

They tend to be quite underweight and don't develop and grow

as a normal kid would because of the simple fact that they're not breaking down

from their food.

So it can be quite a, I guess you'd call it a physically debilitating disease,

not disease, not just because of what it does inside of the body,

but in fact, the way that you look on the outside.

It's very interesting.

And yours is in the pancreas?

Yes, so pancreas, lungs.

I was also diagnosed with liver disease at the age of nine,

which is something that happens to around 10% of people with CF.

And so I got the full house, Mark.

I got the full suite of challenges.

But I'm very lucky.

Whilst I got cystic fibrosis, I was also born into the most incredible family.

And if there was anyone to deal with the early challenges of a life with cystic fibrosis,

it was my parents.

But I look at you now, you just look like any other dude around your age.

You look like you'd run a marathon.

It looks like you're fairly muscled up.

You're strong.

You look good.

But my recollection, because when my kids were little,

I remember I had to take them to the hospital for lots of things.

When kids are little, I have four sons, they're always getting sick.

And I remember seeing some kids with cystic fibrosis around their age walking around.

In fact, it was at Prince of Wales, I think, at Randwick.

And some of them had like a breathing apparatus on and I used to think, my God, like that is just dreadful.

And as you said, you know, they don't get enough nutrition and they don't develop properly, et cetera, et cetera.

How have you managed to turn out the way you've turned out?

I believe it has a lot to do with perspective and belief.

So I'll tell you a story, Mark.

I love to tell a story.

So when I was born, my parents were quite shocked at the diagnosis because...

So do you come out, do they diagnose?

I mean, how's that work?

So you get diagnosed in the Guthrie's test in most cases, which happens, I think, in around three weeks.

And so my parents were surprised at the news because I was a pretty healthy newborn baby.

You know, there were some things there that maybe indicated something wasn't quite right,

but it wasn't so visible.

And so when my parents received the news, you know, my mom recalls receiving that call and just being distraught

because they knew not that much about cystic fibrosis, but from what they could read up on

and the people that they could talk to and hear stories about this disease, it's quite horrible.

And so a couple of months into my life, they went to my first ever CF specialist

and this gent plainly sat them down the moment they walked into the room and said,

your son would be better off with a terminal illness that would kill him.

It would get over because this will ruin his life.

Fuck him.

Yeah.

And that is exactly what my old man and my mom said.

My dad is, I'd say that my dad is one of those guys that he's pretty straight to the point.

He doesn't hold back.

And he said to that guy, you'll never see us or our son again.

And they walked out of the room.

And it's an incredible lesson for me.

And, you know, with humankind, I was there delivering my story.

And one of the first things I speak about in my story is that moment.

Because that moment, well before I was able to receive that information, I was able to get back to my family.

And I was able to get back to my family.

And I was able to get back to my family.

And I was able to get back to my family.

And to receive that information and see that as a lesson, I have hindsight to do that now,

taught me this incredible lesson that what you believe about yourself is most certainly a big influence in what you become or who you become.

And my parents made a decision very early on that they wouldn't allow CF to limit or define my life.

So they went to Sydney Children's Hospital, which is at Ramwick, you know, where you spoke about seeing some of those CF patients.

They found a wonderful doctor by the name of John Morton.

And, you know, from a very early age, I was blind.

Blessed that I had a passion for physical activity and loved my sport.

And I know you're a proud Roosters man.

You know, my dream growing up was to be the next Brad Fittler.

You know, and I come from a very sporty family where my old man, very similar to you, Mark, is, you know, right into his fitness.

And it's a big part of his life.

My mom is super healthy and looks after herself.

And so I was in an environment where that was encouraged.

It was something I was passionate about.

So at these young ages, you know, I could walk into a doctor's surgery at the age of nine and be told that, sorry, mate, but you've got liver disease.

And whilst I was devastated that that took me off the football pitch, I wasn't devastated and I wasn't buckled by, you know, a diagnosis like that.

Because I was living proof, you know, I was a living, breathing example that defying the odds is not impossible.

You know, I was a state champion sprinter at 9, 10, 11.

As an on-track?

Yeah, on-track, 100 and 200 meters.

And so I had all of these, I guess, all this evidence to say that, well, yeah, I'm not supposed to be well, but look at me.

I'm proven those doctors wrong.

And at an early age, my parents shielded me somewhat from the negativity.

And I'm so glad they did because they allowed me to cultivate my own mindset.

And they created an environment for me in which I was able to strive because I didn't believe anything should hold me back.

Where do you get that belief from?

That's a pretty unusual thing because I'd imagine the first response of, and a natural response of a lot of parents, oh, we've got to keep them cotton wool.

We're not going to allow them to go out there.

We're going to catch the flu because it might have a more detrimental effect on Bradley than it would have on another kid who doesn't have, you know, your precondition.

Let's not put him on the footy field because, I don't know, he might get hit in the chest or whatever.

Where did your parents, A, get the strength from to, oh, strength is one thing, but so maybe the intellect or the bandwidth or the perspective that they should encourage you.

Because obviously when you're a little kid.

Really little.

I'm talking about a sub five or four or whatever.

Parents, it's not the kid's decision.

Parents have to open the gate to let the kid out.

Once the kid's out, the kid will run around and have a good time.

But someone has to open the gate.

They'd done as much research as they could.

You know, I was born in 96.

And whilst that doesn't make me very old, what it does mean is that I was born in an era where there wasn't free access to information like there is today.

Yeah, not much on the internet.

No, for sure.

You know, you couldn't go on and listen.

You know, a guy like me on a podcast talking about how fruitful my life has been with cystic fibrosis and go, oh, there's a great example of what Brad's life can be like.

But they'd done as much research as they could.

There was a distant relative who had CF, but in a really bad way and unfortunately passed around the age of 30.

And so I guess they didn't have extremely positive signs around them.

But what they believed and what they did, I guess, was they separated themselves from almost the CF community and just decided to co-operate.

And they decided to cultivate their own mindset and belief towards it.

They decided to be outliers.

And so at a time where the conversation was very negative, they chose to be positive.

Now, that takes incredible strength.

I was having a conversation about leadership yesterday with two of my best mates.

And I was saying that when I think about great leaders, I think of my parents.

Because I remember clearly and vividly a memory at the age of nine receiving the news that I had liver disease, asking the doctor what that meant for my life and what would change.

And I remember he said, well, Brad, you're going to have to take another four tablets.

And I said, well, I'm taking 20 odd as it is.

What's another four?

And he goes, that's a great attitude, mate.

20% more is nothing.

Exactly.

And I was devastated that I had to quit footy because my liver and spleen were now hanging deep below my ribcage and they were exposed.

But I remember looking at my parents the minute that he said, you have liver disease.

And I looked straight at their body language and their face.

And I seen two stoic human beings who looked back at me and smiled.

And they'd done an incredible job whilst I know.

And from being able to speak to them now, and I'm still very close with my parents there, you know, I idolize my parents.

I know that at the time they were like ducks.

They looked calm on the surface, but their legs were kicking underwater.

You know, it's, I guess it's very challenging to hear about your son having, you know, medical challenge after medical challenging.

And it almost feels like all of that adversity is piling up.

It's something that we had to face at some point and we're facing on a daily basis.

But they just did an incredible job of remaining strong in front of me.

And I don't know where they got that.

But let me tell you, it's, it's because of them that I'm here, you know, I have the most challenging prognosis for someone with CF, my diagnosis with liver disease, with a pancreatic insufficiency, with the lungs now, yeah, with, with the challenges that I've had over the course of my lifetime, it is them who have, who have kept me in the fight.

And now I'm in a position where, um, I get to, I get to take the reins and do that myself.

And I have been for a couple of years now as a, you know, as a man, but I just look at them and I idolize them because.

Where they got that strength from.

I'm not sure, but let me tell you, like I needed people like that in my corner.

A word you mentioned, which is sort of an ancient word, um, and one that gets thrown around a lot, but not many people know what it means or have experienced it.

And you said stoic.

Um, so often we get told we need to endure what's going on.

And if we do manage to endure it, people reflect on our endurance.

And many of the people who find it hard to endure it, because they're so curious about what it means to be a man.

And what they get to know is it's a real kind of mind-building function that the mind does not want to go to sleep.

Um, so I think I'm afraid that we use stoicism as a word, not just that I think of it as a word, but I think it's an even more easy word to use.

I think that I, that, I consider stoicism is not, is not the same word.

It's the same word.

It's the same word.

Exactly.

It's the same word.

It's the same word.

Exactly.

It's the same word.

It is.

It is.

It is.

Yes.

It is.

It is.

Yes.

Um, so I think that's what I pull away with that segue.

they look very composed. Their body language was composed and confident. I believe that there's

almost a statement for me that can define stoicism. And I know people have different

ideas around this. I'd like to know what your idea of it is. You've experienced this stuff.

Not many of us have. My idea of it is it's not what happens to you. It's how you respond to it.

And I think that when very early on at three weeks, I was told I had cystic fibrosis.

And I can say this from my own personal perspective as well. Growing up and knowing

that I had cystic fibrosis and knowing that life was going to be different for me,

that life was going to be full of challenges and adversity. It's like playing a game of

poker, Mark. You sit down at that table and you have to accept the fact that life is unfair.

And sometimes that hand that you're dealt, those cards that you're dealt,

aren't going to be the ones that you wish they were. But I know for sure that throwing your

cards into the middle and putting your hands up and walking away from that table gets you nothing.

It gets you nothing because unfortunately, not like a game of poker,

you can't just come back later. This life is a one-time thing. And once you're in it,

you're in it and you have to make the best of what you've got. My parents decided and that

bled into then my mentality that this is the hand that we have been dealt. Cystic fibrosis will be a

part of my life for the rest of my life until maybe, God willing, one day there is a cure.

But right now there's not. And we heard about people who are waiting around and hoping for a

cure. We never waited and hoped.

We attacked it for what it was. And so in the way that we responded to everything,

we responded vigorously and with a lot of spirit. And so Mark, I can honestly and confidently say

today that cystic fibrosis has been one of the greatest blessings in my life because it's made

me the man that I am. I believe that we're a product of what we face and learn to overcome

or at least deal with. And so I look at myself now and I look at

the people that I've met and I look at the people that I've met and I look at the people that I've

met and I look at the people that I've met and I look at the people around me. I believe that the

strength of my connections are a product of the challenges that we've faced. I have these two

incredible parents that I've spoken about a lot so far. And on my left arm here, I've got a lot of

tattoos. So the one on the outside of my upper arm is the statue of Hercules, which is positioned in

Rome. I remember seeing that statue in Rome and looking up at it and the way that the statue looks

down at you. I remember looking up at it and thinking, what a figure, what a striking figure.

It's a role model to look up to. It's a symbol of strength.

I thought about my dad immediately. I remember seeing a statue of an angel, thinking about my

mom, how much of a guardian angel she's been for me and how much she's protected me and looked after

me. My dad is someone I look up to. I want to be like that man, someone who wants to have kids in

the future, who may very well have challenges and adversity of their own. I want to be that stoic

character. Then I have the statue of Nike, which is a symbol of strength for the people of Greece.

And I think about what that means. And I think about myself,

my sister is two and a half years younger than I am. I remember being six years of age and sitting

up at the table every morning for breakfast with my little sis next to me. And I took tablets from

the moment I could swallow for my food. And so I'd sit there and I'd take my tablets and my sister

would cry that she couldn't take tablets like her brother. And so I was never going to walk

into an environment and be ashamed of who I am because the little sis that I love the most

wants to be exactly as I am. She looked up to me.

It was such a symbol of strength for me that I had that sort of support and a sister.

And so I have all of these collections of ideas and images that are very stoic by their nature,

but they represent this in my life. So I wouldn't change any of it. I honestly believe that I

wouldn't be sitting here talking to you. We wouldn't have met at Humankind if I didn't have

this story to tell. And so I believe the mindset is you can't change what you're challenged by in

life. You can't wind back the clock and remove things from your past. It is what it is. But

I'm gonna make a decision to move forward, make a decision to face it.

You talked about the statue of Hercules, a lot of symbolism there and all of those statues or

myths, Greek myths, Rome myths, whatever they might be, were really, nearly... they were

religious, but the more, more probably more importantly, they were spiritual. And the fact

that you've got them on your arm and then you can, and you actually gain strength from that is

really really, really important. Because as a Christian I don't understand what it's like to have a

spiritual character. Right? Because I haven't heard this stuff in a long time. Or I haven't heard it in a long time.

I haven't heard this stuff in a long time. I haven't heard this stuff in a long time. I haven't heard it in a long time.

I haven't heard this stuff in a long time. I haven't heard this stuff in a long time.

gain strength from them, sort of talks to a sort of level of spirituality that it looks

like to me you have, and I'm not getting down the religious route, I'm just talking

about spirituality as such, believing something bigger, something stronger, something inspirational.

Do you think that having CF actually opened the door for you to be spiritual in that way?

Yeah, I think who are we without faith or hope? Hope is, in my opinion, the best medicine.

That's what people want. They want hope. They want hope that for everything they're challenged

by now, that maybe tomorrow, if I get up and face today, could be a little better.

There have been plenty of nights where I've gone to bed and it's been worse than the day before.

What does that mean? Pain or uncomfortable discomfort?

Bleeding lungs, those sort of things where you were great the day before and all of a sudden

you're coughing up blood.

As you lie down and go to bed. And that can be scary. And there have been some terrifying times

in which maybe I've had what you call a life realization or a brush with my own mortality

where it makes you think very differently about this idea of life and death and what a gift this

is. And so when we speak about spirituality, something I've done every night from the age of

13 is pray before I sleep. Now, I wouldn't say I'm a super religious man. I went to a Christian

school and I have a lot of friends who are religious. I've had a lot of friends who are

religious and quite connected to their faith. But I wouldn't say I'm a religious man. I'd say

that I'm a man who believes somewhat in putting intention out there. So every night I pray that

from the age of 13, I actually started when my parents separated. They're still very good

friends to this day. But when they separated for the first time in my life after having such a

close family unit, I remember going to sleep. My dad used to be a police officer. I was going to

house this night.

with both my parents. And I would call the parents whose house I was at, I'd call the other parent

every night before I went to bed, every morning. And I still do to this day. I live with my partner

and I speak to my dad on FaceTime three times, my mom on FaceTime three times. We're so close.

For the first time, I was faced with the reality that I don't get to see my old man tonight when

I put my head down on the pillow. How do I know he's safe? He works in a dangerous job. It's very

unpredictable. And I remember thinking, all I can do in a situation I can't control is choose to

have some faith. And so I remember just praying for the first time. First time I ever prayed

willingly and wasn't forced to at school, of course. And I remember just feeling a little

bit better about it. I'd done something. I'd done something about that, I guess that unknown,

that fear. And ever since then, it's felt weird for me to try to go to sleep without praying.

So I'm like,

kidding you, Mark, every night for the last 14 years, I've prayed before bed.

And I've got mates who are very spiritual. One of my best mates is very spiritual,

talks about the universe and talks about putting intention out to the universe and manifestation.

And I believe that manifestation is nothing without action. And so I am a very action-oriented

human being. But I believe that, we talk about that first lesson my parents taught me,

what you believe about yourself is what you become. And so you have to have some faith in

that process.

Because we're often projecting, we're often looking at where we want to be or who we want

to be or what we want to overcome. And to do that, you've got to have some hope. So I'd

say that, yeah, I am in many ways, quite a spiritual cat.

To some extent, it's tattooed on you. It's actually nearly ritualized on your left arm.

What's interesting though, each one of these images represents your mom, your dad, and

your sister. It's nearly like you carry your family around on you, on your left side.

And as a kid, and I mean, sub-teenager period, what are some of the worst things that you might

have experienced? I don't mean emotionally, I mean physically. So you mentioned you might

be coughing up blood. I mean, what are the sort of symptoms that a kid with cystic fibrosis might

be feeling?

The truth is, Mark, that whilst I had all these scary diagnoses on paper, it wasn't until I hit,

it wasn't until I really hit 18 years of age that I was challenged by my CF. So every day,

I would take,

50 tablets a day as a young man in my early teen years. I do sit down for an hour, hour and a half

every night and do nebulizers. So I was breathing in solutions to thin the mucus on my lungs to

break it up. That's one of those steam masks. Yeah, exactly. And I do like a pet mask, which

was breathing against resistance to move it. I train every day. I remember being 16, my dad and

I. Physically? Yeah, physically. As an exercise, you mean? Exercise every day, whether it was

sprint training or, you know, playing touch after I finished footy or, you know, when I was like

15, 16, me and my old man would wake up at five every morning, get in the gym at 530, lift weights

together, race each other for two Ks on a treadmill. You know, we're always very competitive

like that. But it wasn't until I was 18 that I really started to face some health challenges.

Now, I believe that, you know, for a couple of reasons, cystic fibrosis by its nature

is progressive and degenerative. And so usually the older you get, the more challenges you

experience, right? But I believe that sometimes when you're getting a lot of wins,

what do you do? You get a little bit complacent. And I remember at 16 being told by my doctor,

he said, mate, I have very good reason to believe based off your numbers and what we're seeing in

your body's response to cystic fibrosis, that you would be amongst the top 5% of healthiest

humans in the world with CF. Now that's a nice little pat on the back. You go, I'm doing something

right. But I almost took it as, mate, put the feet up. Yeah, you cured. Yeah, you cured. You

don't have to worry about this. And so, you know, that is most certainly not a message for anyone

with CF. You can never put the feet up with this condition. Or for anybody, by the way, even without

CF. And it's a great point, Mark. I think, you know, there's this old lady, just a sidebar here,

this old lady, Barb. She's a gorgeous lady. I see her every morning when I'm running along the track

with my partner, Soph, and we'll run along the track. And I don't know how old Barb would be,

but she's an elderly woman, Mark. And I know she used to be a marathon runner in the day,

because I've spoken to her a few times and stopped. But her and...

I don't know if it's a partner or a hubby or a friend, they're always running. And I said to

Barb one day, I said, you never stop, do you? And she goes, Brad, you stop, you die. So I believe

in that, Mark. But, you know, I think that I got a little bit complacent and I stopped doing all

the extra stuff that had kept me really well. It was around 18 or 19?

Around 18, you know, and most people at 18, they start to go out and party a little bit too much.

Maybe the vices of alcohol or drugs come into their life. For me, that was never the case. I

was so grateful for the health that I had. I knew I'd never drink because I had liver disease,

which doesn't bother me too much. Sometimes I wish I could sit down and have a beer with my old man,

like, but, you know, me and my dad have many other great things that are a part of our life. So

drinking and not being able to drink doesn't bother me. You don't miss it much, mate. Don't

worry about it. No. You know, I've saved a lot of money and, you know, saved a lot of hangovers,

I'm sure. But I definitely just got a little bit complacent. And I went into the professional arena

and tried to start really pushing myself from a business perspective.

Then I, you know, I remember being 18 and I was going in for what had become over the course of

the two years prior, a routine esophageal varice surgery. So because of the pressure in my liver

and spleen, not all the blood that should pass through those organs does. It starts to take

alternate routes out of the organs and sort of makes its way up into the base of the esophagus,

where you've got these varices or these like veins that line the esophagus. And

they're supposed to have blood moving through them, of course, but not at that volume. And so,

these varices tend to fill up and get big and almost, you know, come out very thick and juicy.

And it's dangerous because, you know, that's a part of the track in which we

eat food, swallow food. And if, you know, let's say, for example, big-

It narrows the passage, does it?

It narrows the passage. And, you know, let's say you've had a big night on the Doritos. They're

quite a sharp chip. They go down and as comical as it sounds, you know, could potentially slice

one of those varices or just due to the increased pressure, one of those varices bursts, then you're

bleeding.

16 were made aware that this was likely happening within my body. And so, I'd go in for a surgery

every 12 to 18 months where they'd go in with a camera, they'd observe these. And if they were

big enough, they almost suck them into a little vacuum and they go up like a balloon. They put a

little elastic band literally around it. It restricts the blood flow and they die off in

about 24 hours.

So, it prioritizes them.

Yeah, exactly. And so, I'd been planned to go in for one of these routine surgeries and I was

overdue. And, you know, the week leading up, I started to get quite unwell. And that's, you know,

that looked like a lot of temperatures and then like I'd be ice cold and ice hot for the course of

the whole week. And then I got to the end of the week, it was the day of surgery and I developed a

really nasty cough. I remember getting to the hospital and I went for my pre-surgery check with

a nurse and she said, mate, your blood pressure's 180 over 100 and your temperature's through the

roof. Like, you are incredibly unwell. We can't operate on you today. Like, that could be really

dangerous. And so, they said, we'd love to put you into a hospital bed. But as most hospitals do,

they had, you know, no vaccine.

No vacancy. And so, they said, we'll send you home. We'll call you tomorrow when we can get a

bed. And I'd been told up until this point in my life, Mark, that if you ever cough up blood,

it's likely one of those varices has burst and it's a matter of get to emergency immediately

or you could bleed out and die. So, it's a scary thing. Now, I remember sitting on the lounge the

next day with my old man and we're waiting for this call. And I'd been coughing just nonstop

for hours. And there's one particular cough I tasted a familiar, but not too familiar,

taste in my mouth, that metallic taste that you get when you bite the side of your cheek or your

tongue and it was blood, except I could taste a whole lot of it. And I ran into the laundry and

I spat in the laundry tub and just the bottom of the tub just was stained red. And I started

coughing consistently and spitting blood out. I could tell it was fresh blood. There were no

clots in it. I remember yelling out to my dad at the top of my lungs. And in the back of my head,

I was supposed to be operated on yesterday. These varices were overdue. One of them's burst.

Called out to dad at the top of my lungs.

And he raced into the laundry and seen the blood. And within a matter of two minutes,

we're in the car. I remember racing towards Wollongong Hospital and just sitting in the car.

And it was like a life realization. I remember, you know, there's a Confucius quote that I love,

that every man lives two lives. A second begins when they realize they have just one.

I remember having like that realization in that moment that like, this could be it. Like,

this is a matter of how quick we get there. If this is what, like what I think is happening,

is happening to me right now.

Like, I might not survive this. And so I looked at my dad and I immediately felt guilty

because I thought, what happens if he doesn't get me there in time? And he has to wear the weight

of responsibility for the rest of his life that he didn't get me to the hospital quick enough.

And his son predeceasing him.

Of course, which, you know, is every parent's worst fear. I remember realizing that my mom

and my sister weren't in the car. And thankfully they worked at the same place at the time. And

my sister was on reception.

She answered. And it, like, it was such a challenging conversation because how do you

tell your sister that, you know, maybe you're like, you're having your final moments to meet

you at hospital? You know, and I just said, I'm coughing up a lot of blood. I don't know what's

going to happen, but you and mom need to meet us at emergency immediately. And I'm so thankful,

Mark, that when we arrived 10 or 15 minutes later, I'd somehow stabilized. What we found

after a bunch of testing was that it wasn't my esophageal varices that were bleeding, but it was

my lungs.

And so I developed a heavy case of pneumonia, which for someone with CF can be deadly.

Which is sort of better though. It's sort of better than...

It's lucky, mate. It's so lucky. And I count my lucky stars every day. And, you know, when I think

about that moment, the next weeks were challenging. When I was in hospital, I had a spew bag to cough

up mucus every day for the next week. There was so much of it. I lost nine kilos in the space of

three weeks and I'd never been so sick in my life. And I remember sitting up in hospital one morning

and thinking, you know, there's that Mike Tyson quote that everyone's got to plan until they get

punched in the face. Holy fuck, did I get an uppercut that day, Mark? I just thought this CF

thing has been a part of my life, but it hasn't challenged me like it has right now. Like it's

game on. I need to do something about this. And that was for me the first moment in which, you

know, it's almost like the bell rang. It's like, this is real now. This is a fight. You started

thinking about...

Your business life. Because, you know, like you can't go through... And obviously you didn't. You

can't go through your life. Well, you can, but it's a punish if you've got to go through your

life always trying to look after your illness. And thinking about that every day, every minute

of the day. And also feeling guilty about how your parents and everybody else is trying to look after

you. At what point did Bradley start to think to himself, I've got to do some business. I've got

to do some work now. I've got to start to set myself up. From the moment I come into this world,

whilst CF I knew would be challenging and full of adversity, I was always the first to tell you

that I wouldn't kick the bucket before 100. You know, I always believed that I'd have a very long

and fruitful life. It's hard to explain, but from a very young age, I was always out in the world

trying to do something. You know, I was the kid that was sitting down writing business plans or

writing picture books or, you know, narratives. You know, in between all my sport, one of the

things I loved to do was write stories. And I loved to write stories. And I loved to write stories.

And I loved to write stories. And I loved to write stories. And I loved to write stories. And I loved to write

stories to my family or come up with an idea or a plan. And I was always very active in that sense

from a young age. And so there was always something like that in me. And both my parents are really

hard workers. So I witnessed them work really hard as a young guy. And so that definitely instills a

level of work ethic in you where you want to go out and be successful. But I believed I had every

reason to be because life was more precious to someone like me. So I wasn't going to sit around

on the couch, you know, and just count my blessings and not do anything about the fact

that, you know, the clock is ticking. But you could, you could always sit back and say,

ah, stuff it, the clock's ticking. I'm not going to, I'm not going to, I'm not going to pull myself

out there. I'm going to just, I don't know, whatever. You could have, I mean, what, like,

is what, there's not much in it though. But like, why did you decide to do something with your life?

You know what, I can be, I can be empathetic to understand that some people would think or feel

that way, but I can't be sympathetic to accept that that's their choice.

Yeah. For yourself, because it's not your personal.

For sure. It's just not me, Mark. And I just always believe that like, you get one shot at

this, you know, and that's so cliche, but there's a reason why we have cliches because usually

there's a lot of truth in them. And.

No, they represent, they represent a lot of the population.

100%. And, and I just refuse to believe that my life would be anything less than extraordinary.

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But really, I'd say my professional career began at around 20, when I stepped into real estate.

As an agent?

As an agent. So I remember my nan,

rest her soul, my nanny Rhonda. She's passed a couple of years ago now, but she always said to me,

my mom's in the sales business. My mom's an incredible car saleswoman. She's actually

Mazda's biggest number of sales for a couple of years running. She's now in Volkswagen. And

my mom's a killer when it comes to business. And I remember, I'm quite similar to my mom in

my personality. My dad's a rural character too, but my dad's always been in more physical labor

and more physical jobs. And he was a police officer. And he was a police officer. And he was

a police officer for many years. But my nan always said to me, mate, you could sell ice to

Eskimos and you love to talk. You should go into real estate. And I thought, it's probably not a

bad point. And I liked property. I liked homes. I, at one point through my school, through my

schooling time, thought about architecture as a potential career. So I thought maybe there's

something in this for me. And I kind of stumbled my way into a position that wasn't available as

a trainee and found very quickly that one of the things I love, Mark, is I love to learn.

I love to learn in a practical manner. And so,

I found just, I fell in love with the business in the first 12 months where, you know, I remember

being, I don't know if I should be saying this, but I remember being six months in and just craving

the opportunity to go out and sell my own stuff. You know, at that point I was working under two

established agents in my area who were great blokes and really hands-on with teaching me the

business. And I just wanted to prove to them that I knew how to do it by myself. I was 20 at the

time. And of course, every 20-year-old man thinks they know it all. And I remember one of my

bosses had gone away to Bali and he's gone just for four days. One of his properties had passed

in at auction. And he said, mate, if you don't mind, can you run the open house for me on the

weekend? Make some calls, try to get some people there. Let's just see if we can maintain some

interest. And the minute he walked out of that office, I set myself a goal to sell it that

weekend. And, you know, I caught a bunch of people, got a few people to the open and just managed to

get a really good offer after working with this, this family back and forth. And, and I didn't want

to call him. He gave me permission. I said, do you give me permission to sell it if I get this

number? And I think it was like 1.15 million or something. And he said, mate, if you get that

number, you've got every right to sell it. And I thought I have to get these contracts signed

and exchanged before he gets back to the office on Monday, because I don't want him to have any

hand in this. I want him to know that it was me from start to finish. So I remember on a Saturday

night racing out to get the contract signed by the purchasers. On the Sunday morning,

it was at the vendor's house. We've got the contract signed. And I'll just remember a remark

from them where they said, is that all we've got to sign? Is that all we've got to do? And I said,

yeah, sweet. No worries. And I rocked up to the office the next day, put the contracts down in

front of my boss. And I said, how's that? And he goes, mate, that's brilliant, but who's buying it?

There's no details of the purchases. And I remember just going, oh, I knew there was something

else. You know, I was so eager, Mark. I just, I just wanted to prove myself. And, and I fell

in love with that from a very early, from very early on in it. But the thing that,

I failed myself with is at a time being 20, as we all do, I had made out a bunch of insecurities

and, you know, I had this idea and this thought in my head that if I made a lot of money and if

I had a lot of flashy things, it would make me feel better about the things that I hadn't truly

accepted yet. And so I started to, whilst I fell in love with the business, I started to set my

sights too much on the idea of financial success and what that would give me. And in the process,

what I found is, you know, after moving to Melbourne, 13 months into that career,

back to Wollongong a year later, I'd fallen out of love with it and fallen out of love with myself

and found myself, I was definitely not depressed, Mark. I had, I was definitely at a mental rock

bottom though. I had some real challenges that I had to face. I was the unhealthiest I'd ever been.

What does that mean though, in terms of unhealthy? You mean unfit as in, as in unfit or?

Unhealthy mentally in, I just lost all sense of self-worth, direction, purpose, passion

for life.

Routine?

Routine. I was mad. I didn't look forward to getting up in the morning. It was a challenging

time. I had great people around me and I was ever thankful for the many blessings that I had, but I,

I didn't feel excited about my future. I felt very unsure, but I'd also physically hit rock

bottom.

Is that the first time you ever really experienced that?

Oh, most certainly, which is, it's, it's interesting to say because I'd been faced

with challenges my whole life.

That's what I mean.

But I think I knew it was my own doing.

And I think that's what hurt me. I think I'd led myself astray.

But in what regard? Like, uh.

I just focused on the wrong things, Mark. I lost sight of what was really important

and I found myself snappy. I'd lost my health. You know, I remember, you know, being 23 and

my life changed at 23 meeting, um, another man. I'll tell you that story, but I'd been in,

I'd been in hospital. I'd been told that I need to go in hospital. I'd developed a really dangerous

infection in my lungs.

And it's just because I hadn't been exercising, Mark. I'd been focused so much on financial

success and trying to make my career work, just exercises going out the door. It wasn't something

I did anymore. And I do average a bit of training here and there, but it was effortless in the sense

that it should have been full of effort and it should have been, you know, with purpose to keep

myself well, but I was definitely not fit. I'd put on about 10 kilos. Um, I was actually about

12 kilos heavier than I am now.

Well, that's a lot of weight.

Yeah. A lot of weight. Um, you know, a couple of lattes and bickies at the desk every day,

mate, when you're in a sedentary dog.

Job will do that to you. And, you know, I remember being told I had this potentially

deadly infection called Burkholderia capatia, which once you develop it, it can be very

resistant and hard to move for people with CF. I remember getting told by the doctor,

you need to go into hospital immediately because we need to hit this with heavy IVs 24 seven for

the next two weeks. And I remember being devastated, Mark, like physically, I look so pale

and so unwell. My face had broken out in cystic acne. Like my immune system was so

complicated.

I was compromised and just, I felt shit about myself. I went into hospital. It was the first

day in hospital. Never once have I entered a hospital and not had my parents beside me.

They've always been so supportive. And they were there on that first day. And I remember

my mom and I were walking down the hallway to get a cup of tea. I just settled in. And

thankfully being someone with cystic fibrosis, you're at risk of cross infections. So they

always put you in a, in a private room within the public hospital. So you have your own

space, which is a luxury when you're in the public system.

And so we're walking down the hall and my mom bumped into an older gentleman and my mom gave him

a hug and said, hello. And he introduced himself and his name was Ernie. And my mom had sold Ernie

a car. Of course she had, she'd sold everyone a car in Wollongong at that point. And we started

chatting and Ernie had cancer. He had terminal cancer and his room was just next to mine. And I

remember he pointed into his room and I looked in there and I seen three other gentlemen who were

really sick as well.

And the energy of that room was so intense.

That room felt really low. And I remember looking at this guy and thinking far out, this guy needs

a mate. He would have been in his mid sixties. So he's way too young to be facing, you know,

terminal illness. In my opinion, you know, he has so much life left to live in. He was such a, a

life, you know, such an alive character. You know, he had so much energy and life about him. And I

just thought, God, this guy needs a mate. And so I said, Ernie, if at any stage in the next two

weeks while I'm here, you need to escape your room and come for a chat. You know, I'm always here,

knock on my door. I'm not going anywhere.

And it was that afternoon at two o'clock, tea and biscuit cart come around, hit my room. I got my

fair share, hit his room. And then he knocked on the door and he was holding his cup of tea and he

come into the room and nearly every day for two weeks, Ernie and I sat down, had a conversation,

bit of afternoon tea together. I remember speaking to this guy who was at the end of his life and he

never spoke about the financial success or the possessions. He just kept talking about his

grandkids, his children, like the moments that made his life exciting.

He had a very exciting job in which he'd really enjoyed and was passionate about. And he had so

many great moments and memories he'd experienced in his life. And I remember every time he left

the room, I'd sit there in my bed and think, man, I'm pursuing the wrong things. Those things are

important to have. They shouldn't be my sole focus. Like I've lost the sense of who I am.

And so I made a pact to myself in that hospital that I'd change, that I'd go out and figure out

who I am, what makes me tick, what I was passionate about again.

Like a value judgment. What are your values? And what do you value?

100%. And I think that everyone needs a sense of purpose or meaning in life.

And I was like, I don't think you find that. I think you create that. So I'm going to go create

that for myself. And Ernie passed a couple months later, but he had a life-changing impact on me.

And that was his legacy to some extent in relation to you at least. So what did you change? What did

you do as a result of meeting Ernie and coming out of hospital? Obviously you got better, but

what, what did you change? What did you pursue after that?

Well, I'd say that this isn't sound advice for anyone listening, because in hindsight,

it was quite chaotic. But I started to change my environment at work. So I left the office and

started working. And my bosses, being the great human beings they were gave me full reign. They

said, whatever you think you need to do to get the mojo back, try it. And so I'd work out of

a cafe in the mornings, go to my appointments in the afternoon. I started testing a bunch of

different things. I started looking after my head. There was a lot of stuff, a lot of things that I

didn't know I was going to need to do, which I think made me a bit more positive, because I've

been working towards my goal. And because of that, I was more of a new person, bringing my

started looking after my health again and trying to be somewhat active. And then I got to a point

where I realized that I just don't enjoy this environment and this work anymore. I need to

completely change and flip thing on like this thing on its head and just go and figure things

out. Now, funnily enough at the time, I just bought my first property. So I just bought an

apartment, had a mortgage for the first time. And after reading the last page of The Alchemist,

and this sounds so chaotic, what an incredible book that is. The book's message.

As in Paulo Coelho's books.

Yeah. And a big part of the message of that book is a person's only real obligation is to go in

search of their personal legend or their purpose, their meaning for life. And so I read the last

page of that and then went and handed in my resignation. And I walked into a world in which

COVID hit and things changed, but I just started this podcast thing. I started to get a little bit

of passion back for life. And I remembered that-

You're a-

Your own podcast.

Yeah, my own podcast. And I remember it as a young man. I love storytelling. I love conversation.

And I was starting to leave for the first time, my little bit of work in the podcast every day

with more than I went into that conversation with. I felt topped up. I felt like I was getting life

back. I thought, this feels great. I'm feeling a sense of meaning in this. And so I started to

discover how important that was for me to be connected to storytelling and conversation.

I realized what it done for me.

What it did for me is it had done throughout my whole childhood. And whilst the next couple of

years that I followed were challenging from a financial position, because I threw in my job

with a mortgage, ended up going broke, selling my place. And I've bounced around trying to figure

it out for a couple of years, but I've found my direction in life now. And there's something

exciting about that.

And what's your podcast called?

It's been through many name iterations, as I'm sure many podcasts have,

but it's now called A Lot To Talk About.

What do you talk about? I mean, what's the theme?

A lot.

The thematic of the podcast.

And I'm a big believer, Mark, that I see my purpose and the meaning I get from life now

in uplifting and inspiring hope through storytelling, whether that be through my

story, through the story of others. And I believe that when you're facing real adversity,

you're at a really challenging point in your life. You're looking to people who can

be an example for you. So a young entrepreneur will look to you. They'll look to the work you've

done. They'll seek you out through your podcast. They'll look for stories and opportunities,

to connect with a way outside of their hardship, a way through the challenges that they're facing

right now. They'll seek inspiration and they'll get hope from that. I spoke about how important

hope is. And I recognize that as a young man who had a chronic illness, who was told that he

wouldn't survive his teenage years, I had a story that could help hopefully thousands of people in

Australia with chronic illness. But I also, through that story, had an opportunity to

connect with guests who had their own very individual stories that could do the same

thing for people who are walking paths similar to them.

That relates to their hardship, for example, like, did you talk to Harry during Harry

Garceau? I'm talking about during his drama with his ex.

No, I didn't. I spoke to Harry immediately after the Olympics, and Harry and I have somewhat

stayed in contact. He's a busy cat, Harry. He's a great man. I've got a lot of time and respect for

him. But I love, when you look at characters like Harry, his composure, his composure. And I'm sure

there were moments where through that hardship, he was stressed.

But you look at the way that he didn't change himself. He remained Harry. And I respect that

so much. To talk to a guy like Will Ahmed, I'm a fan of Will, a fan of his business. And I was

lucky enough to connect with Will and have a conversation. And I remember the moment that

Will walked into the room, he's got 500 employees in his office in Boston. He walked into the room,

and from the moment he locked eyes with me, Mark, his attention was never lost.

He locked in, he was on me, he was present in that conversation. And I thought, for someone who

feels a little bit stressed and erratic trying to do a bunch of different things in my life right

now, God, I can learn something from this man. He's locked in, he's laser focused. He has an

ability to focus his energy on the task at hand. So all of these guests have these incredible

opportunities to teach. And so for me, I have the privilege of, like the audience, learning from

those people. I have the privilege of connecting with these people and hearing parts of their

story that connect with mine. And I'm sure many people can relate to this. I think we all can as

human beings. Story is a big part of the human experience. It's how we learn, it's how we grow,

it's how we evolve. How do we know that something's possible until we get an inkling of maybe someone's

done something similar? And it's a great example. We watched someone like Ned Brockman run across

the country. And all of a sudden, everyone's out on these big, crazy runs now. Because it's

possible. Someone showed it's possible. There's always got to be,

you know, there'll always be innovators or leaders or pioneers who go and do it first. And I hope that

in some areas, I can be that in my own life. I know my parents were. You know, it was two parents

with a young boy with CF. But I believe that when we hear story and we're inspired by story,

it levels us up. And, you know, conversation is really powerful and important. And I want to

provide that for people. And I'm grateful that with podcasts, we can do that for free. There's

no barrier to learning anymore. You don't have to go to university to get an education in business.

If you can't afford it, or you don't have that opportunity, you can sit and listen to a podcast

like The Mentor, you know, or you can sit and listen to someone like Will Armit on my podcast

and learn from a person like that. It's an incredible privilege.

Do you think therefore your mission now, at least now, or at least since the beginning of COVID,

which is only three years ago, do you think your mission is for you to learn or for you to provide

a platform for others to learn or for you to provide a platform for others to listen to whilst

Bradley learns?

A little bit of all. I think we're always developing and I know how much I've evolved

as a man. I speak about the podcast in the sense that it's made a real man out of me

because, you know, it's really encouraged empathy. It's shown me another side to life

that I never experienced. You know, I used to think, Mark, how can someone get addicted to

drugs? That's like preposterous to me. And then you sit down with someone on the podcast who talks

about, you know, the violence that they grew up in or the kind of involvement that they grew up in.

And I think, man, you've lived so different to me. I can understand why there's some hardship

and there's a hole in your heart that you're trying to fill. Whilst that's never the right

answer, I can understand why you've led down that path because I've made mistakes in my life too.

And so it's made an empathetic man out of me, but it's also shown me that ordinary people can do

extraordinary things. And I believe we're just all ordinary people at the core. The difference

between the people who are not ordinary people and the people who are not ordinary people. And I

think that's what's so important. I think that's what's so important. I think that's what's so

important. I think that's what's so important. I think that's what's so important. I think that's

extraordinary success is they believe they can and they do something about it. And I think that's

always the message of the podcast is that just like my guest today, just like you, just like I,

you know, if you're listening and you want to change your life, you can.

I often think one of the reasons I've done lots of things in my life

is because I've tried to keep myself busy to distract me from things that bother me.

And I've just been lucky in doing those things. I've been successful at it. Not everything,

by the way. Some of the things I wasn't successful at. But a lot of times I decide to take things on

or perhaps sometimes too much can be a bit of a distraction from things that I prefer not to think

about or not to do. And then I look at you and given that you've been born with and live with

an affliction, which you'll continue to live with, which is fine. You're doing a good job at it.

But you seem to have a lot of people around you, even on your left arm, people around you that are

very inspirational. And look at the list of some of the people who've been on your podcast,

inspirational people, people of high achievers, big achievers. Do you ever think to yourself,

am I doing this because I'm just trying to distract myself from the thing that really bothers me?

It's an interesting question, Mark. I don't think I've ever done anything to distract myself. I'm

probably not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not.

I'm pretty aware. I'd say I'm very self-aware and I find I can't move forward and feel free

until I face a challenge. I'm one of those people who can't distract myself.

I'm always thinking, I'm always ticking inside, no matter how busy my life is or how manic it is.

The biggest problems are the ones within me, always. And I mean that from just a self-aware

point. But I'll say that I think a lot of, you know, there's another

tattoo. We talk about tattoos on my right wrist and it's something I wrote on a bit of a last

to pass the morning of my first charity marathon for CF. And it says, for all you've done today,

I'll make you proud. And it's got my dad, my mom and my sister's name. And, you know,

as a dedication. And if I was to have this tattoo today, I'd have my partner's name at the top of

it as well. But I truly believe, Mark, that I was given an incredible gift in people who believed in

me.

And every single day, I think about how I'm going to make them proud, how I'm going to make

myself proud, how I'm going to prove, not just for other people who are watching on, you know,

the many families who I've been able to connect with, who have little ones with CF, many people

with CF who are around my age or maybe older who are still facing challenges. You know, I look at

my life as an opportunity to do some good, you know, as an opportunity, if at anything, to do

some good for myself. You know, I want to be a father in a couple of years. You know, I want to

have a family of my own.

I want my kids to look up to me, you know, and think, you know, Dad's my Hercules. Dad's my role model.

He's the person that I want to be like.

And so every day for me is an opportunity to prove to myself that I'm making the best of the incredible gift

that I've been given.

So a sense of gratitude.

An incredible sense of gratitude.

I count my blessings every day.

I remember training for my first marathon.

I'd just come out of hospital and I had a really rough time with some bleeding lungs over the course of a week.

And, you know, I was out on this run a couple of weeks later and I was most definitely not a long distance runner, Mark.

I spoke about being a track champ as a young kid, 100 and 200 meters.

You know, 400 meters was an endurance race for me.

I enjoy the short stuff.

I remember being on my first ever 20K run.

I'd lost about eight kilos at this point, you know, for the first time in a while.

I don't have them today, but I had a set of abs.

I felt tanned.

I felt energetic.

My lungs felt open and full.

I remember running through a little trail near the beach.

And I felt tired in my legs at 12Ks, but I was out to run 20.

And I remember thinking, I need to think about how blessed I am to be out here.

You know, some people call it gratitude.

I call it counting my blessings.

And as I was running through this trail, I likely looked like a crazy man.

But I remember, like, just yelling out, you know, blessed to be out here running because there's days where I couldn't.

Blessed to be healthy because there's people with CF who aren't.

You know, blessed to have people that love me and support me.

Blessed that I have cystic fibrosis.

And I was just like.

I'm fucking blessed.

Like, I'm blessed that I can do this in spite of everything I've faced.

So every day I count my blessings.

How lucky I am to be the man that I am with the people around me doing what I'm doing.

How lucky I am to have a chance at that.

Some people don't.

And I don't know if I should ask this question, but, you know, what's the prognosis for you going forward?

I mean, is it a, if you continue to stay healthy and you've got a partner, I don't know if you,

if you're married or whatever, but you want to have a kid and you want to have a family at least, is the prognosis fulfilling?

Is it going to be good for you?

I mean, or is there something you have to be worried about?

So for people with cystic fibrosis, the life expectancy right now in Australia is around 41.

Now, things have really improved the last year or two, Mark.

So, you know, in 2022, I had the privilege of going and meeting the prime minister at the time to discuss what was an impending PBS,

like a drug that was going to be life-changing.

Funds for the medical funds.

Yeah.

Something that would be on the list so it's cheaper.

We were going to have something brought to the list that we'd campaigned for, for a long, long time.

Now, granted, it wasn't the prime minister's choice to do that.

It comes from the PBAC board.

But a drug called Trikafta was coming into our lives.

And we'd seen the incredible work that it had done overseas in the UK and the US where people were raving about the benefits of, you know, if they were able to take it.

Because there's some people with CF who have a different genetic mutation who can't take Trikafta.

Trikafta just yet.

We need more testing and trials and we need some, you know, innovations on that drug, I guess you'd say, some modifications.

But this drug essentially is what they call a modulator drug.

So it somewhat helps the defective gene do its job a little better.

And so it's not a cure, but it's the closest thing we have.

And this drug was, you know, having benefits of an increase in 10 to 40% lung function for people.

Now, someone who's operated with less than normal lung function for his whole life.

And capacity.

The idea of getting a little bit more is like outstanding.

It's almost like someone's giving you a performance enhancer.

You know, we were hearing stories that people who were coughing up green sticky mucus, like I was every day, had no mucus anymore.

And so there were all these raving benefits in people like dropping and reducing tablets, putting on weight, you know, feeling and looking healthy for the first time in their CF lives.

And in May 2022, I got to take that drug for the first time.

It had just become available on the PBS.

Before that, it was like $120.

So families who were desperate or mortgaging their homes, trying to get on compassionate access for it.

And so I was given this drug.

And I remember looking at it in the morning.

It's two orange tablets in the morning, one blue, one at night.

Take it with a little bit of fat.

And I remember thinking, this could change my life.

But I don't expect it to, because that's dangerous.

That's complacency again.

But, you know, maybe just maybe if I do things right, this will change my life.

Within the space of three days, all the mucus in my lungs had gone.

Wow.

I haven't coughed up green sticky mucus since.

It's been about an hour and a half now.

Oh, wow. That's unreal.

Put on about five kilos of muscle, which is great.

And I got an extra kick.

You know, the thing that was really important for me, Mark, is whilst this will life add, you know, a good 10 years of life expectancy for people with CF,

you know, I never believed that those things were going to define me anyways.

You know, so if someone come to me tomorrow and said, unfortunately, mate, we've got to take Trikafta from you.

Yes, it'd be hard.

Yes, it'd be challenging.

Yes, it would feel unfair.

But sometimes life is.

Now, I don't believe it's going to be taken away from us.

And I believe there'll be many exciting innovations.

But I love that at that point in time, I'd prove to myself, I'd run two marathons with bleeding lungs before this drug was in my hands.

You know, I've survived 26 years and I've found a way not just to survive, but thrive.

And so, you know, people talk about life expectancy.

But when they say that the average life expectancy for, you know, someone like yourself, Mark, who I don't know your health background,

but maybe you don't have any comorbidities or any issues with your health.

They say, you know, Mark, you should get a good 81 years here in Australia.

4,000 weeks.

No one's giving you that guarantee though, are they?

No.

They're not saying, hey, mate, here's your ticket.

And I'll tell you what, on your 81st birthday, I'm sorry, but it runs out.

We're all just operating in a world in which the unknown is something we all have to face.

So I don't believe in life expectancy because no one can promise me anything.

But I know that every day what I can do is get up and do my absolute best to make sure that I maximize that opportunity.

And so, you know, I've made my partner, Soph, a promise.

That I'm going to give it everything I've got to get to 100.

You know, I want to make sure that my kids are thinking, God, when's this guy kicking the bucket so we can get that podcast inheritance?

You know, I want to be here for a long time, Mark.

I love life.

You know, I wake up every day and I'm excited for the day ahead.

I bounce out of bed at quarter to five in the morning because I'm ready to go.

And so I'll never take it for granted, but I'll never believe any prognosis because I've proven them all wrong.

That's an unbelievably good answer.

It's not what I expected either, to be frank with you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Because the podcasts are hard to commercialize.

Very challenging.

Very hard.

Particularly these days because there's lots of them.

But so what do you do to supplement your income?

What are you doing now?

Like daytime wise or whenever it is you've got spare time?

You know, it's funny, Mark, that this is a lesson I've learned the hard way.

So in early 2021, I was so broke I had to sell that property that I'd purchased in 2020.

Yeah.

And, you know, I sold that property and thankfully at the time, the market was great.

It was unreal.

You know, my mom, who at the time was a great car salesperson, had doubled as a real estate

agent at that time because I was out of the business.

She spent a bit of time working in the industry and sold it for a great price for me and I

made a good profit.

It was crazy.

To be honest, it was like crazy.

I'd made 30% profit in a year and as a young man, I was like, oh, this is my ticket to

chase my dream for the next while.

And you know, I got to a point, Mark, where the dream hadn't exactly come to fruition yet.

I was doing what I needed to do every day.

Maybe I'd been a little bit complacent because I'd been given a ticket to chase it with that

profit.

I'd been trying to make it happen.

I'd been hustling.

I'd been looking for opportunities.

It hadn't come to fruition.

I got to a point where I was at rock bottom again.

And so it's been a challenging 12 months, Mark, like trying to figure out, you know,

when you're in this business, you realize that, you know, opportunities come and as

someone who, you know, I don't have the profile or the past experience to expect these guests

to just walk into my studio, I have to hustle to get these guests, you know, I'm often working

for months at a time, pitching to their managers, pitching to their teams, trying to get those

opportunities.

So you've got to be available.

And so, you know, I tried my hand at doing a bit of real estate part time.

It didn't work.

I had, you know, at the time I'd created my charity marathon event and that was getting

me some publicity and media as a byproduct of that.

And we'd raised some great money and it was interesting that I was getting all these opportunities

to go and speak and share my story.

Whether it was on, you know, with Sam Mack on Sunrise, it's how Sam and I met, you know,

it was, you know, these different events and conferences where I was there to just try

and raise money for the cause.

And people kept saying to me, mate, you do a great job of telling your story.

You know, you have no problem speaking in front of a crowd.

You should do this for a living.

And I was like, can you do that?

Is that a thing?

And they're like, yeah, it's called keynote speaking.

You know, you should get into that business.

And so I started to then go, okay, well maybe that's a really great way to fulfill what

feels very meaningful and purpose driven.

For me in sharing my story, but it's a little bit easier to commercialize than podcasts

are.

So I look for opportunities.

I pitched myself to agencies.

I had no filmed experience, but I'd been given a few opportunities where I went and got them

filmed.

It got signed by some keynote speaking agencies, but I maybe got a little bit complacent again

and thought that it would just happen for me.

And I think that what I've learned, Mark, the lesson over the last couple of years is

that, you know, while she can work really hard, you don't ever really deserve anything.

You always have to earn it.

You have to continually earn it every day.

And it's been challenging that I haven't figured out the balance yet, but I'm actually

now working as a casual laborer a couple of days a week.

It's a job that I really enjoy the lads that I work with.

They're all great lads.

And, you know, I go and build wedding marquees and, and bust a sweat for eight, 10 hours

a day, a couple of days a week and, you know, get paid to go and do that and have a good

time just, you know, laughing on site and burning some calories and moving some timber.

And then I come home and I focus on my energy and those days that I'm not working on building

this thing.

And looking for those opportunities.

The keynote stuff is slowly but surely happening and, you know, I got to speak at Humankind

where we met this year, you know, that was an incredible response and I got invited back

for a second day.

And so I've been given some great opportunities, but as you know, it takes time in that space.

Which agencies are you with?

So I'm with Saxton.

I'm with ICMI, Celebrity Speakers, Platinum Speakers, and Inspire, I believe.

Some of the few agencies, but my predominant contracts.

So you're with the biggest one.

Saxton is the biggest.

Yeah.

I've got some great contacts at Saxton.

And you know, I do.

I, you know, I love what I do when I get on stage individually.

I've also got a great mate of mine, Brett Cannellan, where we do a joint keynote presentation.

We're actually off to Newcastle to do that this week.

And so I've got some opportunities there, Mark, where I really want to connect with

audiences and share what I believe to be the lessons, the valuable lessons that I've learned

through some of my hardship.

And I think that that's essentially what I'm trying to get at.

The talk's called Blessed with Bleeding Lungs.

And it's all about empowering people with the fact that your life is going to be very

challenging and very hard.

Like that's something I can guarantee you.

Yeah.

That's something I can guarantee you.

However, through that hardship, there are these lessons that can be learned that will

then allow you to face the next lot of challenges and that's resilience.

It's purpose.

It's perspective.

It's understanding that, you know, every day, if you empower yourself with these things

and often, you know, don't look too far outside of yourself, you know, you're a living, breathing

example of being able to face adversity and get up again the next day, like that's an

incredible thing.

We all have our challenges.

You know, someone can look to me and say,

mate, CF would be hard.

Yeah, it is.

But I'm sure that there's stuff in their life that's challenging too, that I wouldn't want

to face.

You know, there's a great quote, I think I've heard Kamara Usman say it, that, you know,

his grandmother used to say, if we all threw our problems in a pile, you'd pick yours up

and run home quickly.

You know, and I'm like, I've got my challenges.

I'm happy to face them.

Everyone does.

But through the way that we challenge them and face them, we learn lessons.

You know, I just hope that I can teach those lessons to people and share them.

I have to be honest with you.

Like I've got a really big weakness.

Yeah.

I've got a really big day this week.

Okay.

I'll tell you straight up.

And tomorrow I've got a really big day in my non-podcast world.

Really big day.

Really important day for me.

And Sunday night, last time when I went to bed, I wasn't looking forward to waking up

this morning, only because I knew what I had to do this week.

Not so much the podcast, but what's ahead of me for the rest of the day and tomorrow.

And I think that you must have been sent to me on purpose, just to give me a little bit

of an uppercut and to say, stop feeling sorry for yourself or stop thinking like that and

just get on with your fucking day.

Because Mark, you know, like you, I've been blessed, you know, 68 years and I'm fucking

pretty healthy.

You know, I'm pretty good.

You're a sharp looking cat at 68.

Let me tell you.

Thanks mate.

But like you said, like everybody's got shit that they think they're dealing with until

they see someone else's shit.

Hmm.

Like Sam, we just gave the pile and, uh, and, uh, my shit's nothing compared to a lot of

other people's.

And, uh, and I'm lucky enough to, to be frank with you, to have an opportunity to sit and

talk to you today, which has actually set me up for the rest of the week.

And probably tomorrow's thing I've got to do is one of the, it's not the biggest deal

I've ever done in my life, but it's one of the most, um, confronting things I have to

do.

It's a business thing.

Hmm.

It's a, it's intellectually difficult and, uh, and now I feel empowered.

I'm glad to hear that.

Likewise.

You see, you just inspired me, you motivated me, um, you gave me a leveler and what you

made me do, because I think this is what everyone's got to do, every now and then you've got to

give yourself an uppercut and, uh, you know, shut the fuck up and get on with it.

Thanks very much, Brad.

Mate, my absolute pleasure.

Thanks for having me.

Thank you for listening to another episode of Straight Talk with Marcus.

I'm your host, Mark Borris, audio production by Jessica Smalley, production assistants,

Jonathan Leondis and Dimitri Grimos.

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