MANY of us as we click off our days can reflect on at least one time when only for a matter of fate we could have lost our life.
We probably dismissed it with the usual comment “that was close”.
New Canungra resident, Mark Farrow, had his near miss when he was just two-and-half years and what an escape it was.
By all rhythm and reason he should have died on that fateful day on September 22, 1960.
He was living at the time in the small Queensland country town of Kilkivan when he took off chasing the family cat next door.
The cat scampered under the chain wire fence that enclosed the local power sub station and a small Mark followed.
As he brushed the live power lines Mark was hit with a massive 11,000volts.
It was the same as being hit directly by a lightning bolt and as the Daily Telegraph reported on its front page the next day he should have died then and there.
Surgeons who looked after him during his stay in hospital for the next six months said it was only the fact that he was wearing rubber soled slippers that saved him.
While he survived his tiny body was heavily impacted. He lost two of his toes and his left arm had to be amputated from just above his elbow.
In reliving the brush with death Mark was matter-of-fact about his injuries.
“I suppose if I was older when it happened it would have been more an issue, but really I have always lived with just one arm not knowing any better,” he said.
Has it affected him every day since the accident?
The answer to that is a resounding no.
Mark recently blew out the candles on his 67th birthday cake at his home in the new Regal Rise Estate in Canungra.
He has never let his impairment influence his life in any manner.
As a teenager he played basketball, ten pin bowling, cricket and was an accomplished rugby league player.
Although he did say he had to tell the coaches not to play him on the left wing because he couldn’t catch the ball on that side.
At school his best subjects were metal work, wood-work and tech drawing all of the ones you would have thought he’d have trouble coping with.
His love for drawing led him to work for the Jacaranda Atlas company producing maps of towns and cities from throughout the world as a cartographer.
Even today he is still producing maps and recently after noticing the Canungra map at the information centre was more than 25 years old he created a new one and presented it to the local Chamber of Commerce to put up.
“I also created an A4 street map of the area and made 2500 copies for the Information Centre to hand out to visitors,” he said.
“I entered both maps in the digital Art section at the Canungra Show and I was thrilled to be win both first and second prizes.
“I’ve only been here for three years, but I have loved involving myself in the community, helping people where I can as a JP and joining the local Men’s Shed were I was recently elected Treasurer.”
Mark’s real passion is as a Sports Clay shooter and as an official in the sport.
He was the team manager of the Australian Paralympics team for the 2019 World Cup in Croatia and as a one armed shooter in Olympic Trap was ranked in the top 5 in the world in 2017-18-19.
He recently participated against all comers in the Beaudesert Sporting Clays annual two day shoot and although he didn’t place he scored highly.
“I have now qualified as a Clay Shooting referee and my dream is that will enable me to officiate at the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane,” Mark said.
There is no doubt that when Mark was his by 11,000 volts instead of ending his life it gave him the spark to live every day to the fullest.
