In One Lifetime
by Graham Forlonge
GENRE: Non-Fiction - Autobiography
BLURB:
This book is an autobiography of a man who had over 50 mostly major PTSD events in his life. It recounts the trials, struggles, and lessons learned over a life span of 67 years. It recalls his childhood, time as lifesaver, police diver, police driving instructor, member of SWOS, professional NRL footballer, running Police Citizens Youth Clubs (PCYC), Security Manager of the world renowned Porgera Gold Mine in PNG and world record holder of going around Australia in under 10 days on a motorcycle. The events accounted whilst a police diver as well as a Highway Patrol Officer includes plane crashes, train accidents, body recoveries and numerous fatal road accidents, some of which are major historic events in Australian history. It also includes native raids, murders, abuse and many more traumatic events while working in PNG. Some of the accounts are captivating and others highly emotional. His life and determination to succeed was mostly driven as a result of having been sexually abused over many years at the hand of his tutor as a child. It is a true Australian story and displays considerable endurance and survival skills.
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Excerpt:
In those days, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, if even known about, was definitely not talked about. I’m convinced that PTSD may have accounted for more suicides of Police, Ambulance, Fire Brigade, and Rescue Squad personnel in those days than we would care to know.
I believe the police force still needs people like Dutchy to help the young recruits cope with what comes their way, but times have changed and maybe the authorities believe that Dutchy’s tough methods are out-dated. I don’t know.
As part of Dutchy’s training to help young recruits cope with traumatic and stressful situations, he taught us to look for any possible humour we could find in any not-too-pleasant incident. On one occasion, we received an evening call to go to an address not far from the police station where there had been a suspected death. The front door was open, so we carefully and respectfully walked in. As we turned into the lounge room, I saw two elderly women sitting on the lounge and a man sitting in a single chair with his arms folded and legs crossed, just relaxing watching TV. They were watching Dan August, one of my favourite TV show in those days. The man was closest to me, so I bent down and, in a whispered and respectful manner, asked him where I would find the deceased. With that, one of the ladies tore her eyes away from the TV, turned her head to me and said, “You’re talking to him!”
Dutchy immediately spun 1800 on one foot and burst out of the room at what seemed like a hundred miles an hour trying to contain his laughter! I subsequently took the deceased’s details from his wife and, thinking that it might later be important, asked her what his last words were. She replied, “Could you please put Dan August on?”
His wife honoured his wish and left him to enjoy it long after he’d stopped taking it in! What a way to go!
On the way back, my mind was racing with what Dutchy was going to say to the boys back at the station, but, of course, the story was already flying through by the time we got back!
I sheepishly entered the station to rapturous applause and good-natured cheers. I didn’t mind, though. Being able to have a good laugh after an incident involving death was an infinitely better response than how we usually reacted. I am sure the old fellow would not have minded, either, as laughter in the right place is a massive stress release and not callous at all.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Graham Forlonge is a father, footballer, policeman, diver, security officer and the author of IN ONE LIFETIME.
In the 5-Star Review from IndieReader C.S. Holmes writes, "In the memoir In One Lifetime by Graham Forlonge, the author experiences murder, plane crashes, mine explosions, and more...on his way to healing from PTSD...Graham Forlonge’s memoir In One Lifetime is an expansively honest and brutally detailed submersion into aspects of trauma that left the author with a lifelong case of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and is most touching when detailing his healing process."
It took 10+ years to write his memoir. Now, Graham works as a part time counselor for the underprivileged.
Connect with Graham Forlonge
2 comments:
Thanks for hosting!
Now I want to read the whole book - right away!! Thanks for the excerpt! Continued success!
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