Gold Coast’s Marlena’s amazing journey proves physical disability is only one part of the picture

MARLENA Katene has travelled the world, interviewed celebrities, made BASE jumping history and runs her own business. She also has cerebral palsy — but don’t call her inspiring.

You’d be laughing too if you had achieved as much in your life as Marlena Katene has. Photo: David Clark

MARLENA Katene was hanging with a friend on Burleigh Esplanade a while back when an elderly gent thought he’d brighten her day.

“He came up and said to Marlena really slowly ‘Hello, do you want to pat my puppy’,” that friend, Caitlin McMahon, recalled with a boisterous laugh.

“He was super well-meaning but he clearly prejudged her. We got chatting to him and I made sure I mentioned that Marlena has a university degree.”

Forget not judging a book by its cover. This is a case of not judging an intelligent, fun, driven woman by the fact she has cerebral palsy, can’t speak and attacks life from the seat of a wheelchair.

Marlene Katene hangs tough with rapper Snoop Dogg, one of countless celebrities she has met through her music journalism career.

At 25, Marlena’s an aspiring journalist who graduated from Griffith University with grades many fellow students could only dream of. She’s travelled to dozens of countries and interviewed the likes of Richard Branson, the Dalai Lama and Andrea Bocelli.

She runs her own jumping castle business, gives motivational speeches and, not content with having skydived twice, recently fell to Earth from Kuala Lumpur’s imposing KL Tower to become the first person in the world with cerebral palsy to BASE jump.

Oh, and next week she’ll be trying to catch Robbie Williams’ eye when she’s yet again interviewing stars on the red carpet at her fourth ARIA Music Awards in Sydney.

“Since she was a little girl, she’s had a really big vision for her life,” said Caitlin, who met Marlena as a disability worker several years ago.

Marlena Katene with golfer Adam Scott.

“A lot of people with a disability just exist or are babysat … (but) her mum was an incredible advocate to make sure she was educated in the mainstream system (at Burleigh’s Caningeraba Primary School and Varsity College).

“Marlena’s just exceptionally resilient. If bad things happen, she doesn’t dwell on it. She’s super positive … I know I’m much more emotionally unstable than she is (laughs).

“If she chose to, she has everything to complain about but she just doesn’t. She’s just chilled and cool.”

Just don’t call her inspirational.

“Inspiration is a funny and awkward word for me,” Marlena said via the ABC communication board attached to her wheelchair.

“It’s a fine line between acknowledging someone for mundane tasks like getting out of bed and actually achieving in their chosen fields. I’m just doing my thing and I can’t hide my disability, nor do I want to.”

The person saying those words on Marlena’s behalf is Bert Hibbert, who met her when she was a two-year-old who needed assistance with an exercise program.

Almost a quarter of a century later, he’s still by her side.

“We see each other most days and I go on about 95 per cent of her trips,” Bert said.

“I obviously do a lot of the physical stuff for Marlena but it’s a two-way friendship. That’s why we don’t like the word ‘carer’. I get as much out of our friendship as she does.”

Including seeing the next phase of her journey unfold.

“Journalism is a hard gig and I am thinking of other income streams,” Marlena said of life as a freelance writer.

And one friend has no doubt she’ll find them.

“Having a nine-to-five job is obviously a challenge but it’s just about thinking creatively, such as keynote speaking,” Caitlin said.

“And I think she’ll be happier in that world than you and I are in our nine-to-five jobs.”