The Chin Wag October 21 2020

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CHINCHILLA
REGULAR DATES
Chinchilla Uniting Church
31 Middle St
9.30am Sunday Worship
Pastor Tanya Errey
Ph 4662 7318
Life Church Chinchilla
117 Cemetery Road
10am Sunday Morning Service
Zoom prayer meeting
Tuesday 7pm
Tony Kuster 0427 628 469
Annette Kuster 0412 731 970
www.lifechurchchinchilla.org
Facebook Life church Chinchilla
Country Hope Church
Multiple service times and locations.
For details or to watch online go to
countryhope.church
Phone 4668 9471
Pastors Lee & Carly Dallmann
Chinchilla Country Market
3 rd Sunday of month
Chinchilla Showgrounds
(unless grounds are booked)
7am start Ph Lindley or Marie
0439 074 088
CHINCHILLA MAN PUTS HIS BODY
ON THE LINE FOR HIS SISTERS
ZOE BELL
zoe@thechinwag.com.au
With zero 5km racing experience,
zero 10km racing experience,
zero 15km racing experience,
zero half marathon experience
and zero marathons to his name,
one ex-Chinchilla student is
preparing for the toughest race
of his life but is fuelled by a heartwarming
reason.
Watching both his sisters suffer and
wondering every day how he was fortunate
not to get it, Jeremy Drabsch is taking on the
gruelling 50km ultra-marathon charity race
for his two sisters and to raise awareness for
Epilepsy Queensland.
"I've always wanted to do something for both
of them, and in general for epilepsy, because
I feel many people don't grasp the impact it
can have on people's lives," he said.
"During COVID, I started to take up running
to deal with my COVID related struggles.
"I sort of came out the other end a lot better
off physically and mentally, and I wanted
to do something to challenge myself and
realised it would be the perfect lens to try
and raise money for epilepsy."
Jeremy can still recall the frightening moment
he witnessed his sister have her first seizure.
"She fell backwards and hit her head on the
cement," he said.
"It made this terrible sound, like a watermelon
smashing, it was horrible, and to see Courtney
sitting there having a fit, her body writhing
and shaking uncontrollably.
"Then she comes out of it… the scariest part
is not knowing if they're going to be the same
person or not because it just takes one head
to the cement the wrong way and they're
never the same again, one bad fall and that
person may never be the same, or they might
die.
"I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy to see
someone you care about go through that."
Around 50 million people worldwide and
200,000 Queenslanders have epilepsy, and
it can have detrimental effects on patients
lives.
For Courtney, it meant multiple surgeries
after body parts were injured from her falls
and trouble in the workforce due to the
unpredictable nature of the disease.
EVENT CALENDAR
2020
OCTOBER
Any events happening in October?
NOVEMBER
15 - Chinchilla Country Market
Chinchilla Showgrounds
3rd Sunday of month
(unless grounds are booked)
7am start Phone Lindley or Marie
0439 074 088
28 - Official Opening of the Tara &
District Art Exhibition
6pm Tara Function Room
19 Fry St, Tara
Ph 1300 268 624
29 – Tara & District Art Exhibition
Tara Memorial Hall
19 Fry Street, Tara (until December 2)
PLEASE CHECK ANY COVID
RESTRICTIONS PRIOR TO ANY
OF THESE EVENTS
A LESSON IN LOGIC ...
A fourth-grade teacher was giving her
pupils a lesson in logic.
“Here is the situation,” she said. “A man is
standing up in a boat in the middle of a
river, fishing. He loses his balance, falls in,
and begins splashing and yelling for help.
His wife hears the commotion, knows he
can’t swim, and runs down to the bank.
Why do you think she ran to the bank?”
A girl raised her hand and asked, “To
withdraw all his money from his savings
account immediately?”
"She has to have reconstructive shoulder
surgery now because she's landed on it so
many times and now it dislocates so easily,
even when she's asleep.
"However, she can't pay for the surgery
because she can't hold a job for things totally
out of her control.," he said.
Jeremy has been training for the event for
the past three weeks and despite working his
way up to a 20km run, he knows that it won't
be easy, and that he is in for a world of hurt.
"A big part of it is that I wanted to do
something to cause me suffering, pain, and
agony, that I'd want to quit from because
that's the point; we are lucky we can stop the
race if it becomes too much, but others don't
have that option," he said.
"For a large part of my life there has been this
guilt that both my sisters got epilepsy and I
somehow managed not to get it, so I think
the suffering the race will bring… it's sort of
like my version of self-inflicted punishment.
"I can use it to frame the challenge that I just inspire my main group of friends, if they
is epilepsy because I can say, 'well this go away with a better understand of epilepsy,
race is going to be very difficult, and I will then that's sort of mission accomplished to
suffer through, but it is relatively short in me."
comparison to the suffering my sisters have Jeremy is a quarter into his fundraising goal
to deal with, or anyone with epilepsy." of $10,000 and will be running the 50km
And with their love and support behind Marathon on the Gold Coast in six weeks.
him, Jeremy knows he can push through If you would like to donate to his campaign
and get to the other side, just like in the past and help him reach his target, please visit
where the pair have helped him through Jeremy's Facebook page by searching Jeremy
challenging times.
W Drabsch or alternatively you can visit
"They're so strong and happy, it's very https://www.facebook.
inspiring for me to keep that in perspective…
to think back to what they have to deal with Picured: jeremy and his sisters Courtney and
and still stay strong," he said.
Portia.
"It's been a huge inspiration to me."
Courtney said she is appreciative of
Jeremy effort towards her and her
other sister.
“I’m so incredibly grateful to have
a brother who would go to such
extremes to show his support for us
and those going through the same
struggle,” she said.
By participating in the race, Jeremy
wants to help raise awareness for the
disease, make people comprehend it,
and that way hopefully they will do the
same in future.
"The charity I chose, Epilepsy
Queensland, does do research, helps
to support people with epilepsy, but
they also do a lot of awareness work,"
he said.
"That would be the main goal, even if
THE CHIN WAG - WEDNESDAY October 21, 2020 - Page 6