Geelong Advertiser |
THE father of quadriplegic Casey Tutungi has thrown his support behind the grief-stricken family of Albury footballer James McQuillan, who faces life in a wheelchair.
In an inspiring gesture, Chris Tutungi has vowed to help Mr McQuillan and his family after the 20-year-old suffered spinal damage in an on-field accident on April 5.
He has been taken out of intensive care and moved to the Austin Hospital’s acute spinal ward, where he is likely to spend the next month.
A team of Albury officials, including president Gavan Schultz, visited Geelong on Sunday to meet members of the South Barwon Football Club, who were left shattered when co-coach Casey Tutungi suffered quadriplegia from an accident against St Joseph’s on June 22.
“We made contact with Richard Holz last week to see if we could get any insight from them on how they handled the incident (with Casey) from when it happened right through to their current position, covering all aspects from the family, trust funds and, ultimately, fund-raising activities and the ongoing support of Casey,” Mr Schultz said.
“It was very beneficial. We spent three hours with the guys and we gained a lot.
“The first thing we picked up was there’s a lot of work ahead of us. You understand the enormity of it even more when you speak to Casey’s dad, Chris, and Clive Goldsworthy, who is the chairman of the Casey Tutungi Future Fund.
“We got a really good idea from both those guys as to what we’ve got ahead of us.
“We’re hopeful, and so is Casey’s dad, that James isn’t as incapacitated as Casey.
“There’s signs there that he’s a lot more further advanced that Casey was at the same stage. The ultimate hope is he makes a full recovery but we’ve got to be realistic and know that’s probably not achievable in the short-term, but he’s still in the hands of the medicos.”
Mr Schultz said the club would continue to liaise with South Barwon, while building a relationship with the Tutungi family.
Mr Goldsworthy is also guiding the Tigers through the fact-finding mission.
“Chris has been enormous,” Mr Schultz said.
“He was enormous yesterday with what he gave us from his personal experience and the offer of support that he’s given us and, in particular, James and his family has been enormous as well.
“He’s going to have direct contact and hopefully in the not-to-distant future Casey and James will have the chance to meet and talk.”
Mr Schulz said the club was still coming to terms with the accident, describing it as a “bad dream”.
A trust fund has been established for McQuillan, with the ANZ bank tipping in $5000, while a dedicated website is being built.
Albury has also banded together with the Echuca Football Club, where McQuillan played his junior football, and Yarrawonga, who were the Tigers’ opponents on the day of the incident.
Donations to the trust fund can be made at any ANZ branch or via electronic funds transfer to the following account:
Albury Tigers Club Ltd in trust for James McQuillan
BSB : 012 -505
Account No : 3898 -97732