Survivor
Late last night I was hailed by a young bloke with prosthetic arms and hooks for hands. He sat up front and we quickly got chatting about general stuff so that I didn’t get the opportunity to inquire about his condition.
Well, actually, I did get a chance when he mentioned he was a DJ and manager at one of Sydney’s top clubs. However, the fact he was a DJ indicated that, obviously, he managed to spin records with his clamping hooks. Furthermore, as I learned later, this fella, Thomas, also plays guitar,
...I have designed an attachment to go on to where my hook is that screws in in lieu of the hook that would wrap around the fret of a guitar, and I can clamp it on and off. So I’ll be able to tune a guitar so as I might be able to play just chords.
Thomas was fairly knowledgeable on the dance music scene and gave me a thumbnail sketch of various clubs and their respective owners and tribes. His own style of music was electronica; readers who club will know of this popular genre.
Amusingly he related how after once playing a DJ set at a major nightclub they’d offered him cocaine as payment. “Um, nooo,” he told them, “I don’t think so.” Yet it wouldn't surprise me if he was physically capable of undertaking the fiddly job of using cocaine.
We hit Maccas drive-thru so he could score a late dinner and he passed me a twenty dollar note for payment. Waiting for the change I joked, “I’ll just put it in the charity slot, shall I ?” “Well, that’s your fare,” he laughed. So the joke was on me as my charity didn’t extend to making a ten dollar donation on a lousy shift.
After work I tracked down Thomas on Google. Not only has he no arms but also no legs, lost part of his nose, ears and most of his skin, all at the age of nineteen. ABC radio did a special report on his incredible survival from a frightening disease, against heavy odds. A few weeks after leaving hospital he explained his outlook,
You always ask the question ‘Why has this happened to me?’ but then I think you come to the agreement with yourself that it’s got to happen to someone, and if I’m that person, then so be it, and what you choose to do with that is more important than why it happened to you.
Hit this link and listen to Thomas tell his story plus hear some guitar playing.
UPDATE: Australian Story
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