The men from Warrimoo’s Torwood Street finished their arduous four-day, 153km kayak along the Macquarie River last month raising over $4000 for research into depression in the process, and they’ve already committed to paddling in next year’s event.
“We’ve got plenty more starters from Torwood now too,” said Lindsay Settree, whose daughter Claire, 19, has suffered with depression for more than three years and was the reason behind their late-life adventure.
The event WOMDOMNOM which stands for Wellington on Macquarie, Dubbo on Macquarie, Narromine on Macquarie had 130 entrants in late November and the four Mountains-based kayakers, Bill Joannou, Vince Spisso with Lindsay and his son, Toby, signed on to help the Black Dog Institute and Claire. Many other dads in the street trained alongside them, aware of Claire’s struggles.
“We did it the hard way and realised the kayaks we had were really for fishing, most people with similar kayaks stopped after the first day, but we persevered. In the end we were blown away [by the event],” Mr Settree said.
He said the experience had been life-affirming and Claire's experience in the media spotlight had encouraged her to seriously consider an ambassadorial role with Batyr, a group that aims to educate young people to speak out about mental health issues.
