By Roman Kulkewycz
MATT Lewis from Pakenham, who won a gold medal in this years’ Paralympics at Rio playing rugby for Australia and defeating the USA by a solitary goal during the dying stages of the last quarter, visited the residents at Hillview Bunyip Aged Care last Wednesday to speak about his medal win.
Five years ago Matt was caught in a homemade explosives blast. The next thing he remembered he was lying in a hospital bed with no legs below both knees and all his fingers gone.
After many surgeries and a long recovery process, Matt found an interest in playing wheelchair rugby and eventually made it into the Paralympic team that went to Rio earlier this year.
The residents thoroughly enjoyed listening to the 29-year-old’s story and following his talk gathered around him to meet and get to know him personally.
Many wanted to be photographed with him.
In passing a vote of thanks to Matt, resident Ron Bray expressed his sincere thanks on behalf of the residents and said that it had been a “golden” month for Hillview following the recent visit of the Melbourne Cup.
