Duncan Brooke’s courage deserves glory

DUNCAN Brooke struggled coming to terms with the prospect of being confined to a wheelchair.

Pride of Oz: courage medal - Duncan Brooke was a star basketballer as a kid until he was diagnosed with a debilitating form of rheumatoid arthritis at age 12

FACING the prospect of being confined to a wheelchair by the age of 18 after being a young star athlete, Devonport’s Duncan Brooke struggled in coming to terms with his new reality.

A promising basketballer with a scholarship at the Tasmanian Institute of Sport, the now 25-year-old was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis – a debilitating form of rheumatoid arthritis – at the age of 12.

Having to let go of his dream of playing basketball at a national level, Duncan underwent invasive and often painful treatment.

“I was very sad and lonely – basketball was my life,” he said. “I didn’t fully understand all of it at that age either so it just felt like my favourite thing was being taken away.”

While his initial prognosis seemed grim, with the help of a rheumatologist, he became determined not to let his condition rule his life.

Duncan gained national accreditation as a junior basketball coach and he volunteered for the Devonport Fire Brigade in 2008.

In 2010, he took out the Volunteer Fire Fighter of the Year award.

Duncan has been nominated for the Pride of Australia Medal’s courage section.

Nominate someone you know on our Pride of Australia page.

Nominations close 5pm on July 29.