Near-death experience inspires Gympie Hospital security guard’s plea to support Wishlist Giving Day

A security guard at the Gympie Hospital has urged people to give generously at the upcoming Wishlist Giving Day in Gympie (7 May) after requiring life-saving care at the hospital he works in.

One minute 31-year-old James Raymond was walking out of work and the next he was waking up in the Sunshine Coast University Hospital (SCUH) Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

“I remember one of the ICU doctors saying “cough”, because they had just taken out one of the medical tubes,” James said. “It was daunting.”

James had lost two weeks of his life.

After that fateful day at work he’d gone home and sunk into unconsciousness. He was found two days later when his work asked for a welfare check.

He was taken to Gympie Regional Hospital and put into an induced coma and then flown to SCUH where he spent the next 10 days in the ICU.

Emerging from the coma was just the start of his journey, he transferred to the rehabilitation unit where he had to learn to walk again because his legs had lost so much mass during the coma. He also had to retrain his right arm, which was damaged after being stuck behind his head when he was unconscious.

James is back at work now with a new perspective on life, great gratitude for where he works, and is very vocal about the importance of donating what you can on Gympie’s first standalone Wishlist Giving Day.

“Every cent counts,” James said.  “With all donations to Wishlist going to the health service, every cent counts.”

“It’s great to have our own Wishlist Giving Day, and I’m proud to be one of the ambassadors, I just want to give back.”

Proceeds from the Wishlist Giving Day in Gympie on 7 May will support Gympie Hospital and the health needs of patients and families right across the Gympie region and beyond.

To create your own fundraising team or to donate on the day click here.

And remember donations on the day are DOUBLED due to our generous business Matchers.