Family, friends and town rallying around Brett Nolan

Tuesday, January 14 started off like any other normal day for Narrabri’s Brett Nolan, who could never have guessed what life had in store for him hours after he left home for work at a hay shed just out of town.

At about 9am that day the unthinkable happened and Brett fell 12.5 metres from a hay shed roof to the ground.

He does not remember the fall and was confused when he woke up at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney.

That is when reality started to set in for the popular Narrabri husband, father, sportsman, builder and mate.

Brett suffered terrible injuries including a broken neck, back (spinal cord injury), sternum, hips, leg, ankles, foot and other damage including a single broken toe.

After the fall he was immediately airlifted to Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital where he spent three months in intensive care and spinal wards.

Following numerous operations and then a two months stay at Royal Rehab Clinic, Ryde, Brett returned home to Narrabri in June and has been working extremely hard as his road to recovery continues.

He currently cannot feel his feet and is moving around in a wheelchair, but he can still get up out of the wheelchair unassisted and can even twist to get himself into the car.

Remarkably, illustrating just the type of person that he is, Brett has remained positive and is still in good spirits.

“I’m feeling good,” he said.

“Rehab and physio and gym with Tim Vaughan is going well. We do a bit of walking and standing and I’m back doing weights, three days a week there which is real good.

“Things were slow early on but time went quick towards the end in rehab at Ryde and now home, every week just goes really quick.

“They say you can still get some sort of movement back for up to two years so we will work hard for the two years then whatever happens after that happens.”

Brett said that the staff at both the Royal North Shore Hospital and the Royal Rehab Clinic were fantastic and meeting other people in similar situations really helped him get through a difficult time away from home.

But nothing has helped Brett more than the love and support he has received from his wife Tanya and his two sons Hamish and Tom.

Tanya was by Brett’s side every day in Sydney and said that she had been inspired by her husband’s positivity since his accident.

“He’s always been a very positive person and very determined, so that makes it a lot easier I think when you’re so positive about getting back to our new normal,” Tanya said.

“It makes me feel a lot better. When he’s having a bad day I have a bad day so when he has a good day it makes me feel a lot better.”

Meanwhile in another show of support more than $20,000 has been raised via a gofundme page named ‘Brett Nolan’s road to recovery’.

The fundraising page was started by Tanya’s cousin Rich Fowler who told The Courier that both Brett and Tanya were two honest, hard-working country people who would never ask for help even when they needed it most.

The page has been active since June 16 and as of yesterday afternoon there were 150 donors, many of whom had left messages of encouragement and admiration for Brett.

Brett said that he was inspired and grateful for all the support he had received, especially from family members and the Narrabri community.

“It’s just fantastic the support we’ve received,” Brett said.

“Being in a drought, and COVID, for people to give money it’s just unbelievable.

“Everyone in Narrabri has just been fantastic, it’s a great little country town and you don’t have to go looking for support it’s already there for you.

“It was also fantastic to see so many visitors in Sydney, for them to make the effort to come all the way there to come and see me was unbelievable.”

Brett now has his sights set on the next few months which he said will include more rehab and hopefully getting his licence.