In One Lifetime by Graham Forlonge [Tour with Excerpt]

This book is an autobiography of a man who had over 50 mostly major PTSD events in his life.

Welcome to the May 11th stop on the blog tour for In One Lifetime by Graham Forlonge with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.

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About the Book

In One Lifetime
by Graham Forlonge

Published 27 January 2020
Tellwell Talent

Genre: Non-Fiction, Autobiography
Page Count: 543
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This book is an autobiography of a man who had over 50 mostly major PTSD events in his life. It recounts the trials, struggles, and lessons learned over a life span of 67 years. It recalls his childhood, time as lifesaver, police diver, police driving instructor, member of SWOS, professional NRL footballer, running Police Citizens Youth Clubs (PCYC), Security Manager of the world renowned Porgera Gold Mine in PNG and world record holder of going around Australia in under 10 days on a motorcycle. The events accounted whilst a police diver as well as a Highway Patrol Officer includes plane crashes, train accidents, body recoveries and numerous fatal road accidents, some of which are major historic events in Australian history. It also includes native raids, murders, abuse and many more traumatic events while working in PNG. Some of the accounts are captivating and others highly emotional. His life and determination to succeed was mostly driven as a result of having been sexually abused over many years at the hand of his tutor as a child. It is a true Australian story and displays considerable endurance and survival skills.

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Excerpt

I stayed at a friend’s house for a couple of days before hearing about a job as the Beach Inspector at Toowoon Bay Surf Life Saving Club, which would include my own little room in the Surf Club. The minimum age requirement to be an inspector was twenty-one, but I was a strong, although not particularly fast, swimmer, so I applied. However, at the swimming test, age did not even come into the equation. I surpassed the expectations of the examiners and, as they were possibly desperate to fill the position, I landed the job. So here I was a beach inspector living alone miles away from home and not yet eighteen.

It took only a matter of weeks before I was to experience a loss of life whilst on duty. As usual, I was sitting on the surf reel looking out over the water. The reel is very useful for life-saving but not much good when you are by yourself, as it requires about three people to handle it properly. I was watching some young swimmers in the water when I heard a woman screaming behind me. I turned and noticed that a young girl had collapsed on the sand up near the Surf Club. I ran to the girl, who looked to be about fourteen. She did not seem to be breathing and I could not feel a pulse. The woman who had screamed for help said that she had just fallen over.

I gave the girl five quick breaths before carrying her into the nearby Surf Club Medical Room where I placed her on a bench and began CPR. I asked the woman to ring 000 for help but instead, she rang the girl’s doctor who took nearly 35 minutes to get to the scene. When he arrived he asked me to move aside, which I was very happy about as I had been performing CPR the whole time; my arms felt very heavy and tired by then.

The doctor gave the girl a quick examination and turned to me and said, “You did a good job, son, you should be proud, but she’s gone. Let her rest now.”

I was devastated. I just sat on a chair staring at the young girl on the bench until the ambulance arrived. I watched as the girl was carried out, placed in it and driven away. Eventually, the doctor came to me, put his hand on my shoulder and told me that she had been his patient. She apparently had a severe medical condition and the expectation was that she would have died well before this time. I suppose that should have made me feel a bit better, but it didn’t. The experience of having someone’s life in your hands and then losing her made me feel sort of hollow inside, even though, as it turned out, there was nothing I could have done to help.

At not even 18 years old, this was my first experience with death; but nowhere near my last.

About the Author

Graham Forlonge is a father, footballer, policeman, diver, security officer and the author of IN ONE LIFETIME.

In the 5-Star Review from IndieReader C.S. Holmes writes, “In the memoir In One Lifetime by Graham Forlonge, the author experiences murder, plane crashes, mine explosions, and more…on his way to healing from PTSD…Graham Forlonge’s memoir In One Lifetime is an expansively honest and brutally detailed submersion into aspects of trauma that left the author with a lifelong case of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and is most touching when detailing his healing process.”

It took 10+ years to write his memoir. Now, Graham works as a part time counselor for the underprivileged.

Website | Goodreads

Giveaway Alert!

Graham Forlonge will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B&N gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

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