About

 My name is Garry Warren and I live in the southern suburbs of Sydney Australia. People who live in the Sutherland shire would have a shudder if they realised a St George boy was claiming residency south of Sydney without living in ‘The Shire’, but don’t worry I can just about see it from where I live. 

I have been married to my wife Michelle for the past 40 years or so and I am thankful she has put up with me for so long. I have four more or less adult sons. The majority of my working life was/is with Fire & Rescue New South Wales.

When I was 36 and at the sweet spot of my career (I had just made Station Officer) I was diagnosed with multiple Sclerosis or MS as it is commonly known. It would be fair to say that the MS has significantly affected my life to the point that today I am confined to a wheelchair as well as a whole raft of other nasty stuff.

No honest story of my life would be complete without mentioning that I am a Christian – although not very good at it – it is therefore fortunate that this whole relationship with God is not about what I have or have not done, but instead it is about what Christ has done for me. As this insidious disease robs me of more and more in this life, it correlates with a closer and closer dependency on this relationship.

I have called this blog Fathom as it somehow denotes depth. Not that I am deep, but life with all its cul-de-sacs and detours is. So, you are welcome to join me on this journey as I attempt plumb this life.

Cheers Garry

Popular posts from this blog

On the boys

Image
  This photo is special to me.   It was a rare time that all our boys were together here in Australia (for Lachlan’s wedding). Michelle and I remember it as a time full of brotherly shenanigans. There were so many smiles - not to mention the stomach churning laughter. They are all really really funny (although they do blur the line about what’s appropriate a bit too much!).   I sit here staring at the four faces in this photo.   What a faithful bloke Jacob is. He knows what it means to tough things out, nonetheless he is sensitive and caring (and even better at accents than I am).   I really admire that Ben has elected to be attentive to the voice of God. He was willing to venture to an unfamiliar environment with a lot of unknown outcomes.   Lachy is a very intelligent and perceptive individual who has the gift of being able to read people. I love how his face is inclined towards God.   And Caleb – he has faced some very significant ch...
Read more

Have you ever thought of writing?

Image
  Alarmingly, I have been asked this before. To write about my life as a person who lives with the debilitating consequences of Multiple Sclerosis. I have to confess I find the whole idea a bit ‘discombobulating’ for a number of reasons (is that even a word?). Firstly, unlike the people who have suggested this to me, I have real trouble seeing what, of real positive value, my life story would add to the corpus of humanity? I’m just a burnt out old fireman with MS, who repeated first-class and thereafter journeyed through the rest of my educational life under the spurious illusion that things like homework, assignments and even studying were for the poor unfortunates who had not benefited from such an extended exposure to primum genus instruction.   Second, where would I start, how would I construct a cogent narrative – a sequential story of my life that is of value? I fear it would be a catalogue of wince memories punctuated by encounters with truly significant people....
Read more

Diagnosis

Image
  Back in 1998 I was playing in this mixed social comp called Action Ball (basically indoor netball) and I noticed I was tripping over my feet by the time we got to the fourth quarter. It sponsored a comment from Michelle, “Gee – you fall over a lot, maybe you should consider seeing a doctor.”   So, I dutifully went to the doctor and described the symptoms I was experiencing. He later said that he had immediately suspected MS, but at the time sent me for a number of tests. The whole diagnosis journey is just that – a journey. I was referred for these tests over a period of about 12 months including CAT scan, MRI, EPMT and a Lumbar Puncture.   Allow me to digress as I give you an anecdote about my Lumbar Puncture. During this test, a sample of Cerebro Spinal Fluid (CSF) is drawn from your spinal column using a hypodermic needle. Apparently according to nursing 101 it is crucial that the patient remains lying completely flat after the procedure. Unfortunately, the nurse...
Read more