As he arrived at Northern Hospital for the 23rd time in a month, Jimmy Furletti was starting to think he was falling apart.
The Seymour resident and former Furletti Family Kitchen owner had gone 77 years without a stay in hospital but was now becoming as familiar with the hospital’s oncology department as its doctors and nurses.
A liver and bowel cancer diagnosis in 2016 came as a shock to Jimmy, who was fighting fit up to that point.
“Getting that news hit me pretty hard. It’s never good news to get, but it was extra shocking because I’d been healthy most of my life before that,” Jimmy said.
“It had me down for a while but thanks to the support of my family I was able to fight it.
“I was determined to beat it, and while I’m not out of the woods yet, the future is looking bright.”
At the end of his cancer treatment, Jimmy used one of his favourite hobbies to say thanks to the Northern Hospital team for saving his life.
An avid metal detectorist, Jimmy donated a gold nugget worth about $1000 to Northern Health Foundation.
“I got into metal detecting in 2006 as a bit of hobby and have had a bit of success finding gold,” Jimmy said.
“They offer a gold standard of service at the Northern and I was glad I was able to give something back.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better team of people to look after me and I wouldn’t be here without them.”
After his cancer treatment, Jimmy thought he had done his fair share of time in hospital until Christmas 2019.
“The chemo left me with very little feeling in my feet so I’m a bit unsteady,” he said.
“The day before Christmas I went to turn the water off in the shower and my feet went from under me.
“One foot went through the tiles on the wall and severed my Achilles. There was an unbelievable amount of blood.
“I saw the white lights and was close to gone. Luckily my brother was there to keep me conscious until paramedics arrived.
“That required eight weeks in plaster and 16 weeks in a moon boot. It wasn’t the best Christmas.”
Now fully recovered, Jimmy is hoping to stay away from hospital for the foreseeable future and get back to metal detecting, bowling with Seymour VRI and an artistic skill he learned from his wife, Ann.
“I haven’t done a lot of it since the cancer diagnosis, but I got really into beading,” he said.
“It’s not something I thought I would be in to, but my wife does it and I decided to have a crack.
“It takes a lot of concentration and precision to thread everything together but it’s very satisfying when you’ve made a picture.
“My proudest work so far is a big picture of Buddy Franklin made from beads. It has pride of place in our living room.”