Double lung transplantee and author Gray Bickley will add crime novelist to his inspiring list of accomplishments with the launch this month of his work Contained.
In 2004 Gray, 73, of Peregian Springs was told he had only six weeks to live. His pulmonary fibrosis disease was critical, and he needed a double lung transplant.
“Luckily, a donor was found and I was rushed to the Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane. I was 59 when I was given this gift of life, and I promised myself I was going to try and make every moment mean something.”
Since then the story of Gray has been one of developing an impressive range of new talents. He is an accomplished wildlife photographer, a malt whisky buff and a painter. He is a published writer and poet, having contributed to two collections of short stories by the Noosa Writers’ group.
He has already started on his second book, Vanished, which is set on Fraser Island.
“I tried to be an actor in the 1970s and because I wasn’t acting all day-every day a friend of mine gave me a job cleaning shipping containers. It was fairly mundane work, and I found myself imagining what would happen if I found a stash of drugs in one of the containers,” he said.
“The idea has been simmering ever since.”
Contained is a fast moving thriller about drugs found in the Port of Brisbane, murder, and an accused ex stuntman who is forced to go on the run from the Queensland Drug Squad and bikies, all the time fighting for his life and those close to him.
During his earlier life in Sydney, Gray was a radio announcer, theatre, TV soaps and film actor and counts among his credits working with director Bruce Beresford.
“I’m pretty much aware of my fragility. Fifty per cent of people who get transplants like mine live after eight years. It’s very good if patients, in terms of longevity, live 18 years,” he said.
“I’m very grateful for the 13 years I have been given so far. I suppose I wrote the book because I wanted to leave something behind that someone can pick up on the ether in 50 years’ time.”
Contained will be launched on Friday 15 December at 6pm at Noosa Sports Complex, McKinnon Drive, Tewantin, and is available in most Sunshine Coast book stores for $24.95 or from grayham.bickley@gmail.com
