Stories & Achievements: Chris’s Story

Chris’s story: a straight shooter

At Christmas I’m going up to Queensland to visit my Dad for a couple of weeks. I’m also looking forward to seeing my cousins and my aunty on the north side of Brisbane. I’m taking my beloved dog Binni with me. She’s an American Staffy and I love her to death. The first week I got her in 2015 I was told to put her into puppy pre-school and that was a really great idea. Binni is my best friend. Often my only friend.

I grew up in high rise city on the Gold Coast and that’s where I was involved in a car accident when I was 16.  I ended up in a coma and it’s all a bit of a blur. I’ve been in Marks Point for 23 years now. Moving down from Queensland wasn’t easy.  It took me away from everything and everybody I knew. My Mum is down this way and I love her dearly.

My accident has slowed me down a lot. I get ice pick seizures which are terribly painful and feel just like an ice pick.  I didn’t get them straight away, they came on gradually. Thankfully I don’t get many seizures anymore as I pop the pills to keep things under control.

Headstart gives me interaction and I feel well supported. Before Headstart – which was only a couple of years ago – I really just sat here at home by myself. So getting out is a big part of my support and helps give me the only freedom I’ve ever had.  I could only ever go places I could walk, as I seldom had the money to travel any other way.

I’ve got Reid on Tuesdays for shopping, work around the house and bathing my dog Binni.  Now I’ve got Shannon on Friday’s for shopping, appointments, and helping me to be more independent.  I’ve also got a few other support workers at different times.

Lisa and I get on well and we go to Tuggerah Field Archery for practice on Thursday’s. Then once a month on Sunday we go for a badge shoot. My accident happened before I could get my license and so I’ve never driven a car in my life. Lisa drives me down to archery where she will sit and observe, but basically I go and do my thing. It’s something I really look forward to a lot. The only thing is we can’t go to the range if it’s too windy as it’s outdoor shooting at this one. I enjoy archery because it’s very quiet and it’s my alone time.

I used to do archery off and on when I was younger. I was a shooter (a marksman) and when I didn’t have any money to buy bullets I’d go up into the bush and make my own bows and things.

I’d never shot professionally before now. I love the outdoors and I’ve always done Cub Scouts and Venturers when I was young. I was actually coming home for Ventures when I had my car accident.

I was in school shooting team, using .22’s at an indoor range. I thought I did ok and I have a memory of the range guy saying to me ‘If you keep shooting like this, you could shoot for Australia!’  That was me goal for a long time. I thought that would be awesome! As a boy I used to shoot birds and small animals but I was always getting hurt. And as soon as I stopped doing all that sort of stuff I stopped getting hurt. Funny that! Down here everything’s illegal. All the stuff that I used to do in Queensland, I can’t do here as it’s all illegal.

I’m an online shopper which is the only way I can afford anything. I can’t afford shop prices but I can afford what they cost on eBay. For example, if I went out and bought my shoes at a shop they’d be way to expensive for me. I’m getting a new shoe rack next. I was just looking online at the bow I want to buy last night - an adjustable, 40-65 lbs, hunting target practice compound bow.  My current bow is limiting my shooting now because the sight is out and a lot of the time I’m guessing.

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