The parents of a former junior representative AFL player are searching for answers after the 21-year-old died in Mossman Hospital on Tuesday morning. Gary Elliott said his son, Graeme, was taken to the hospital on Monday night with a mystery illness he that he had since last Thursday.
His son had been to a Port Douglas doctor’s surgery on Saturday to get blood tests after he complained of coughing up blood earlier in the morning, Mr Elliott said. The next day, Mr Elliott drove Graeme to Mossman Hospital and back to his girlfriend’s house at Port Douglas. The next time he saw him, Graeme was clutching his father’s hand in a hospital room while doctors worked to save his life.
"When I left him on Sunday, he had come good, we were chatting better than we had in ages," Mr Elliott said. "Next time I saw him, he was fighting for his life. I’ll never forget the look in his eyes, it’s something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. He looked in absolute agony."
An ambulance took Graeme to the hospital on Monday night because he was having trouble breathing. His parents did not know about the seriousness of the situation until Tuesday morning, when Graeme’s girlfriend told them an ambulance from Cairns was coming to collect him.
They arrived at the hospital shortly after and spent a short time with Graeme before doctors told them their son had died. The Elliott family now want to know what caused Graeme’s death and whether it could have been diagnosed earlier. Autopsy results are expected in about a fortnight.
In the meantime, he and his partner, Karen Gulliver, are left to wonder why their son was allowed to walk out of the hospital just 48 hours before his death.
"We don’t want to have a witch-hunt or blame people for anything, we just want the truth about what happened," he said.
The family plans to meet hospital staff on Monday.
Before last Thursday, Graeme had been a healthy 21-year-old, according to his father. In his youth, Graeme played with the Port Douglas Crocs AFL club and represented an indigenous team that toured South Africa in 2008.
In the past two years he had fallen away from AFL but had been training for a comeback. According to Mr Elliot, Graeme smoked but didn’t have any known health issues.
"I’m not making him out to be a super-healthy saint who was running marathons or anything, but he looked lean and fit," Mr Elliott said.
Yesterday, representatives of the Port Douglas AFL community called Graeme a "super athlete" who had the potential to play in the AFL. Bill McCartney, Graeme’s junior coach from when he was eight to 16, described Graeme as one of the most talented players he had seen in Cairns.
"He was just a joy to coach, a wonderful kid," McCartney said. "He won the best and fairest at the club a number of times."
Crocs senior president Andy Smith said the team had gathered on Tuesday night for an emotional meeting about Graeme’s death.
"A lot of the boys playing here had grown up playing with him and knew him very well, they’re distraught," Smith said. "He was very well known in AFL Cairns. He was just a great kid and a wonderful athlete."
Read more at http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2012/03/22/211361_local-news.html
Courtesy of The Cairns Post.
Last Modified on 30/03/2012 12:16