State of Mind 55
Meet Simon Rigg - Artist and Nature Lover Nettie Hulme I first met Simon about thirty years ago when I worked as his attendant carer for the early morning shift in his Castlemaine home. His gentle demeanour and compassionate, thoughtful approach to this crazy world, despite his daily hardships, impressed me and it was a delight to be with him. Working in a physically intimate space lends itself to intimate discussions when two like-minded souls connect.. Many sessions were spent discussing the woes of the world while we went about the work, making it a smooth transition into the day proper. Sweet memories of a time now long past but etched in my mind with fondness and gratitude.
That was in the early nineties and Simon had been living with the challenges of quadriplegia for ten years. Quadriplegia, also known as tetraplegia, is the paralysis of the body from at least the shoulders down. In 1982 Simon was a busy young man. He was working as a landscape gardener for the local hospital and, at the same time, building a house for his young family that included three children under the age of five, when he fell off the roof and broke his neck. And just like that, in a few seconds, his life was changed and there was no going back to what was before.
