By Garry Howe
Tributes continue to flow for Brad Waterhouse, who lost his battle with cancer early Sunday morning, 9 April, aged only 45.
The former Maryknoll CFA captain will be farewelled with full fire brigade honours in a ceremony at the Cardinia Cultural Centre on Saturday 22 April.
Brad made his own funeral arrangements, putting others before himself.
“He told us it couldn’t be at Easter, because all his mates would be up the bush,” his mother Meryl Waterhouse explained. “And we weren’t to have it in Maryknoll because there’s only one road (in and out) and he said the police should not have to deal with the likely traffic issues.”
Brad was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer in early 2015 and spent that entire year battling the disease.
When he returned from hospital for the first time in February of that year, townsfolk gathered at the entranced of the town with the fire truck and a huge ’Welcome Home’ sign.
In the April, nearly 30 friends and fire brigade colleagues all had their heads shaved at a fundraising event at the local recreation reserve to help Brad with his battle.
He thought he had got through to ordeal when declared to be in remission in the December, but got news last year that the cancer had returned.
When doctors discovered brain tumours and stomach cancer last December, Brad began preparing for the inevitable.
As well as making funeral arrangements, he drew up a ‘bucket list’ of things he wanted to achieve.
It primarily involved spending quality time with his many friends – and particularly his daughters Bethany and Hannah.
A few mates set up a crowd funding site to help him work through the list.
The “Tassie Crew”, a group of firefighters who he formed a bond with while fighting the Tasmanian fires last year, started the ball rolling in January by arranging a helicopter flight.
A few weeks later he, his parents and the girls spent a week in Noosa and they also indulged one day at Sugar Buns in Hampton Park.
“He got a few things done,” Meryl said. “Not as much as we would have liked, but he did get to spend a lot of time with his friends and his girls.”
Meryl and her husband Keith have been nursing Brad in their Pakenham home for the past 10 months.
He had been going steadily downhill and was admitted to The Valley private hospital last Monday, 3 April. He finally succumbed at 7am on Sunday.
“It’s so unfair,” Meryl said. “But at least he doesn’t have to go through those horrible procedures any more – which he did without a complaint.”
Meryl said the family had been amazed and heartened by the response since news of his passing filtered out on social media since Sunday.
“People have been calling from all over the place,” she said. “It’s been quite overwhelming really.
“It’s incredible how many people knew him – and if you knew him you loved him.”
Good mates Rob Mackie and Paul Smith will join Meryl and Keith Waterhouse in paying tribute to Brad in a funeral service at the Cardinia Cultural Centre in Pakenham at 1pm on Saturday 22 April, then afterwards at either Meryl and Keith’s house or the Maryknoll Fire Brigade.
