Horrocks Beach stroke survivor given “second chance” to help others

A Horrocks Beach stroke survivor who defied the odds after being told he would never walk again now hopes to use his experience to inspire others.

Scott Cameron, 58, was a fit and healthy father of three who suddenly collapsed after suffering a stroke on the right side of his brain while he was jogging one day in 2016.

The incident left him with almost no feeling or mobility down the left side of his body.

Mr Cameron said you could have heard a pin drop in the room after he announced to doctors he wanted to get back to surfing and running. “I said I wanted to get back to my physicality before I had the stroke, and the whole room went quiet,” he said.

“I didn’t realise until afterwards that was because they were going to tell me I was not going to get there.”

Undeterred from achieving his goal, Mr Cameron initially worked hard with physiotherapists in Bunbury — near where he was living in Margaret River at the time — to regain his mobility and learn to walk without any feeling in his left leg.

Now driving and swimm-ing freestyle with one arm, there is little Mr Cameron cannot do.

Mr Cameron recalled he was overcome with emotion when he finally took his first steps after the stroke.

“I cried, to be honest,” he said.

“I was in a wheelchair for six months and then slowly you become more mobile, but even now I am still working on my walking.

“Every step, I try to consciously bring my left leg closer to the midline of my body

“That’s what tires you out … it’s the thinking about what you have to do.”

Mr Cameron said he was “lucky not to die there and then” when he suffered his stroke, and he hoped to encourage others to remain strong in the face of adversity.

“I am a strong man ... I don’t think I deserved what happened to me but I see it as a second chance to help others,” he said.

Mr Cameron is now working to improve his mobility with therapy service provider Rocky Bay — which opened its first regional hub in Geraldton earlier this year.

Rocky Bay physiotherapist EJ Warr said the new centre would help country patients access the services they needed to achieve their goals.

“It is great to connect Geraldton to Rocky Bay’s resources and Perth-based team of therapists to maximise patient outcomes and quality of life, without the extensive travel,” she said.