MISSION 61 - POREPUNKAH / ESSENDON / POREPUNKAH

Paul Ozols, a recent arrival in Bright, cried when he was told that some of his pain and suffering would be relieved by Angel Flight pilots who had volunteered to transport him, free of charge, from Porepunkah to Essendon, to enable him to continue a course of chemotherapy at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in East Melbourne.

"I don’t believe that anyone who doesn’t know me would want to help me," he told his carer, Pam Wright.

A native of Latvia, Paul Ozols, arrived in Australia in 1949, after being caught up in the conflict with Russia during which he was wounded. Sadly, his wife and two sons are now dead and he has no other family in Australia.

Pam, a nurse by profession, is now both Paul’s guardian and carer, bringing him to Bright to continue living with her and her husband. "I discovered that Paul was alone and sick, and having him come and live with us was just the natural thing to do," she said.

Obviously concerned for his well being, Pam was horrified by what happened to him within a short time of arriving in Bright. "Normally he is really good at travelling on his own, but his first trip to Melbourne by train and road was a disaster. Paul, who is quite deaf, fell asleep waiting for a train on his way home which meant he missed his bus connection which added even more time to what should have been a five hour trip."

Pam said that his first round of treatment caused acute nausea and loss of coordination, which was aggravated by the travel to and from Melbourne and the need for him to stay overnight.

"Unfortunately, there seemed to be no reasonable alternative and we thought that Paul would be unable to continue receiving this potentially life saving treatment," she said.

And it wasn’t only Paul that cried over this amazing act of kindness. When Angel Flight phoned to confirm there were two wonderful pilots eager to help, Pam said she just stood by the phone with tears rolling down her face. "This has made such a difference to this dear old man, because he leaves home at breakfast time and is back just after lunch the same day, and has "angels" looking after him all the way" Pam said.