Dr. William Walker OAM trained in medicine in Sydney, later travelling to the UK to gain his FRACS. He worked in Newcastle, New South Wales as a Plastic Surgeon, specialising in cleft palate surgery and breast surgery. After retirement, Dr. Walker undertook charity surgery in the third world under the auspices of Rotary and other organisations. His wife, a trained nurse, accompanied him along with his assistant, Nurse Lyn Thorpe, OAM.Dr. Walker's interests included swimming, hockey...

Everything to Live For is the story of one young womans survival against extraordinary odds, a testament to the human spirit. In September 2011, Turia Pitt, a beautiful 25-year-old mining engineer working her dream job in the far north of Western Australia, entered an ultra-marathon race that would change her life forever. Trapped by a fire in a gorge in the remote Kimberly region, Turia and five other competitors had nowhere to run. Turia escaped with catastrophic burns to 65 per cent of...

Unflinching in its honesty, My Journey is the extraordinary memoir of Jim Stynes: Irishman, footballer, Brownlow Medallist, Reach co-founder and former president of Melbourne Football Club whose very public battle with cancer touched the lives of everyone who knew him.When Jim was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 43, he was given nine months to live. The diagnosis caught him by surprise – and he didn't have time for illness. He was a busy father, husband, brother, mento...

It takes something special to be a bush nurse working in rural and remote Australia. These remarkable women patch people up and keep them alive while waiting for the doctor to arrive. They drive the ambulances, operate the clinics and deliver the babies. They are on call around the clock and there are no days off. They often make do with whatever is at hand while working in some of the most isolated places on the planet.Be they devastating family tragedies, close scrapes with bushfi...

How a grim diagnosis transformed the life of one of Australia's top cancer specialists.It was a cruel twist of fate: in November 2006 Chris O'Brien, one of Australia's leading head and neck cancer surgeons, was diagnosed with an aggressive and almost inevitably lethal form of brain cancer. As he knew, few sufferers survive past twelve months. Nevertheless, he was determined to beat the odds. With the support of his close family, O'Brien took the option of radical brain surgery unde...

The work of a nurse is challenging enough, but when you add a remote location, the stakes are so much higher. Meet fifteen courageous people who prove that the outback runs on nurse power.There's Anna, who is on duty as the fury of Cyclone Yasi tears through inland Queensland; Maureen in outback New South Wales, who faces everything from a snakebite to a helicopter crash; Aggie, who overcomes her demons to help young people in the Kimberley; and Catherine, newly graduated and determ...

Another treat for Harry Hill fans! Britain's favourite comedian, Harry Hill, loves it when people make silly mistakes. So much that he has put together a rib-tickling book of howlers, wacky stories and bloopers for all the family. The Bumper Book of Bloopers contains Harry's favourite goofs picked from the world's daftest newspapers and magazines - and believe it or not every single one of them is a genuine boob!

Professor Stanley Feldman decided to write his memoirs when, in 2008, he was pronounced dead. Fortunately, however, this was not by one of his fellow doctors but instead by an Australian medical journal - prompting much shock the next time he visited his friends down under! He has been a doctor with the NHS for over 60 years now, and has presided over the transition of medicine into the modern world. His career has seen both the sublime and the ridiculous; Stanley has worked with some of t...

Funny and poignant stories from the labour ward and from the frontline of campaigns for women's reproductive rights, from Australia's best known obstetrician.'We never train women in Sydney,' Caroline de Costa was told in 1974 when she applied to become a junior registrar in obstetrics and gynaecology. She and her husband packed their bags and their children, and headed for Dublin.When Caroline first started in medicine, being an unmarried mother was frowne...

Having a happy, healthy child is what every expectant parent hopes and prays for. Imagine the devastation if your child is born healthy and, through medical misinformation, is transformed into a child that suffers permanent mental handicap and convulsions. This is what happened to Rosemary Fox shortly after her daughter, Helen, was born. As she sought explanations and compensation, she was told that she was damaging the vaccine programme and told to keep quiet. She refused, and campaigned ...

International humanitarian-aid nurse and New Zealander Andrew Cameron is the winner of the coveted Florence Nightingale Medal. In this gripping book he recounts his remarkable life nursing in some of the world's most dangerous and challenging locations, including South Sudan, Yemen, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan. He also details his nursing career in some of Australia's most remote settlements, where anything can be waiting at the end of a long and dusty outback road: a major road accident,...

Under the Microscope is the story of an extraordinary man, his many life-changing inventions, and his exceptional life and special friendships.Born into a family of doctors – on the paternal and maternal sides - with a birth defect that no one knew how to treat, Earl Owen was given a dose of radiation before anyone knew what radiation treatment could do to a human body, let alone a newborn baby.Earl Owen’s medical parents, aunts and uncles failed t...