Page 17 - Just Better Care Possible Magazine - Issue 6

LIFE THROUGH
A NEW LENS
Lachie’s first exposure to photography was unwrapping a Brownie film camera on his tenth birthday. It was a basic box, black and white camera, but for a 10-year-old living on a sheep station
in northwest Queensland, it was all he needed.
Station life was captured through his lens: grazing sheep, wide open spaces, the blistering sun belting down on the red earth. Rather than
hunting for objects or scenes to shoot, Lachie captured life as it was happening. A style of shooting he continues today.
“I love all aspects of photog- raphy, from capturing those magic moments, to landscape photography and recording my travels through Australia’s red dirt,” Lachie said.
“I try to capture the beautiful moments as they take place around me. Life can change in a flash, so make sure you seize the moment.”
Lachie put down the camera for a few years while he pursued other interests. As a teenager in the late 1960s, Lachie moved with his family to Townsville in the far north of Queensland to complete his schooling and a plumbing apprenticeship. And get a taste for city living.
His passion for photography
returnedyearslaterafterhislifetook aslightchangeincourse.Lachiewas applyingforajobonaminesiteinthe early2000swhenhefailedtheagility test. He immediately knew some- thingwaswrong.
Consequent visits to his local doctorandthentoaBrisbanespecialist confirmed there was an issue, but the testing – MRI scans and a lumbar puncture – failed to result in a diag- nosis. It was a couple of years later when a Townsville neurologist diag- nosed Lachie with multiple sclerosis.
Lachie was coming to terms with the news and how this condition would impact his life when subse- quent tests led to a new diagnosis.
“Because of further develop- ments with my condition, a different neurologist re-diagnosed primary lateral sclerosis (PLS), which is a sub-type of motor neurone disease,” Lachie explained.
“PLS affects the voluntary muscles in my body, which makes the muscles weak, particularly in my
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