Tennant Creek teen Cebby Johnson faces uphill battle after fall

AT JUST 13, Cebby Johnson has already faced more hardships than most. But now, lying in a Melbourne hospital, the Tennant Creek teenager faces his toughest trial yet

Cebby Johnson with AFL great Cyril Rioli

AT JUST 13, Cebby Johnson has faced more hardships than most would encounter in several lifetimes.

But now, lying in a Melbourne hospital, the Tennant Creek teenager faces his toughest trial yet.

The footy star and six mates were mucking around on the roof of a pumping station near the Dromana reservoir on the Mornington Peninsula when a skylight gave way. Cebby fell 6m to the concrete floor, hitting his head on a pipe as he fell.

He was flown by helicopter to Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital where he remains in a serious condition.

Some of his Tennant Creek family are travelling to be by his side. He turns 14 on Wednesday.

In 2013, when he was eight, Cebby became the face of the Northern Territory’s child ­neglect crisis.

A story which appeared in the NT News and other News Corp publications chronicled his difficult life – he had been bounced around to different relatives as a baby before he was taken in by Dennis ­Windsor, with whom he lived happily for a few years.

Cebby, aged 8

But when Mr Windsor died in 2012, the Warumungu boy was left on his own.

Again, he spent time with different relatives in insecure arrangements. He told journalist Paul Toohey he just wanted somewhere safe to live.

That story was the catalyst for change for Cebby.

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He was taken in by a woman in Melbourne who had read the article, and has spent the past four years ­living happily in Dromana.

He’d even struck up a friendship with his idol, Hawks star Cyril Rioli, and last year met Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull at a footy game.

Family friend Jasmin ­Afianos, who has known Cebby since he was a baby, said he had finally found the safety and security he craved.

Although it has been several years since Cebby left Tennant Creek, Ms ­Afianos said he was well known and loved.

“The community of Tennant Creek is reaching out and channelling love and healing energy to him,” she said. “It’s important to all of us he gets through this.

“(Cebby and his friends) were just being teenagers and he’s paying a heavy price.”