Member story

Shining bright

Last Christmas, Greg Forknall’s family lit up the town in the memory of a loving husband, father, grandfather and friend. A special Christmas light show outside a family member’s home in Piara Waters helped raise money for Diabetes WA, inspired by Greg’s life-long desire to help others. His widow LISA FORKNALL tells his story.

Greg was a good man who dedicated his life to caring for his family and making life better for everyone else. He and I were high school sweethearts from when we were 14 and married 10 years later. As a teenager Greg was awarded the highest honour in Scouting, the Queen Scout Award, and was named Junior Citizen of the Year for Bunbury. He also volunteered for the State Emergency Service.

He always found the time to volunteer despite working around the clock. Around his 21st birthday, Greg was looking quite gaunt and was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes soon after. There were tough times early on when, without modern technology such as blood glucose monitors, Greg had to get used to injecting himself with insulin using frighteningly large needles and had to move quickly from injecting twice a day to four times a day. He never let his diabetes get in the way. He always had his barley sugars at the ready, but things were a lot easier when he got his first insulin pen and blood glucose monitor. In his younger days, Greg played a lot of football and hockey and remained a keen sailor, competing in overnight races along the West Australian coast. He also built a successful career as a senior accountant and chief financial officer for companies including BHP Biliton, Worley Alumina and Westralian Sands. He did work long hours and travelled quite a bit, but he always managed his diabetes. He figured out how to adjust his insulin and food to different time zones when he had to fly to the other side of the world. In 2010 Greg was diagnosed with bowel cancer but continued working throughout chemotherapy because of his dedication to his work and family. He saw cancer as a small hiccough in his life, but nine years after going into remission, he was admitted into hospital with a heart attack. He had no pain but felt short of breath and needed to rest constantly. Within 20 minutes of the paramedics diagnosing Greg in his hotel room, he was on the operating table at the local hospital, having a stent put in. He stayed in hospital for a few days to recover, but found his diabetes soon got out of control because he initially wasn’t allowed to manage his diabetes himself. After insisting on self-management, he got back on top of things. We learned at the ward that people with diabetes don’t usually feel pain during a heart attack. That’s why Greg didn’t know he was having one. We were also surprised at the number of people with diabetes in that cardiac ward. Having survived a massive heart attack and bowel cancer, Greg joked that he wasn’t worried about COVID-19 as the pandemic began. Sadly, just as we were preparing to retire, he died from heart failure soon after Christmas in early 2021. When I found him in bed, it looked like his heart had stopped, but I knew he’d had a full check-up in November and his cardiologist said everything was fine. I was surprised to hear the confirmation from the coroner’s office that it was his heart. I guess it was just Greg’s time. Greg is much missed by his family, including son Chris and daughter Nicolle. The Christmas light show to raise money for Diabetes WA was actually the brainchild of Nicolle’s husband Steve DiConza. He and Nicolle had originally thought about raising funds for the Heart Foundation but Greg’s five- and eight-year-old grandsons said they remembered Pop having his needle and decided the family should raise funds for people living with diabetes. Having the light display and raising funds was a lovely way to remember Greg. Diabetes WA would like to thank Lisa Forknall for taking the time to share Greg’s story and the Forknall family for raising money for Diabetes WA to continue to support people living with diabetes and advocate for their needs.