I have known Matt for 21 years and have been greatly inspired by his determination, tenacity and the courage he displayed in the face of enormous limitations and setbacks encountered over those years.

After a debilitating stroke some years earlier, when much of his life seemed to be obliterated from his mind, he came to see me when I worked in Ballarat and asked if I could find his mother, whom he had lost contact with. Mother was found in Queensland and Matt was delighted to connect with her before she died not long after.

Incidentally, on that first occasion when we met there was no access for wheelchairs to the building I worked in and we had to talk on the pavement out the front.

From then on he made that a top priority access to all public buildings for wheelchair users.

He travelled to Melbourne and various metropolitan stations on many occasions in his fight to see that access became a reality for all. He was given an award at RMIT.

Matt had high expectations of everyone and if one didn't measure up he would look elsewhere for help.

At times he could be very scathing in his remarks, and sadly there were those who wrote him off as too hard to deal with.

After many disappointments and declining health issues (it would take him an hour to get out of his bed in the morning without help), he decided to create a garden around his unit.

This was no small task for a man who had only one finger that moved and a stiff thumb.

He, of course, had help for some of the heavier requirements but I remember how proud he was to show me the painted borders of the garden, which he had accomplished with his one finger and which took him many days and hours to finish.

Both my husband and I, who are now retired and living in Melbourne, were proud to be his friend.

We kept in touch regularly and miss those text messages that often asked us if we were being good.

He kept up his fight for survival right to the end, always trying to make life a better place for those disadvantaged like himself.

Well done Matt, your life was not in vain.