One of regional Victoria's most beloved promoters of wine and food, an ambassador for the city of Ballarat and a loved and admired raconteur and conversationalist, Brad Fernando is not a person to let adversity stand in his way.
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A man who has lived with cancer and AIDS, Brad is now facing the prospect of lengthy reconstructive surgery and therapy following the recent discovery and treatment of a new and aggressive cancerous tumour in his jaw.
The treatment has been invasive and devastating. It required the removal of parts of Brad's mandible, maxilla and tongue. There has been extensive courses of radio and chemotherapy, long dental and plastic surgeries.
Now, says his close friend Kate Davis, it's time for Ballarat to get behind Brad.
The director of Eat Drink West and Plate Up Ballarat is organising the Rally for Braddy, collecting and selling boxes of wine to raise money for Brad's treatment and speech therapy.
For someone as socially engaged as Brad, the upheaval, pain and solitude of his illness has been admittedly hard to bear. In just months the cancer travelled from a small spot on the left-hand side of his jaw all the way around.
Although he struggles to speak, he is determined to express both his gratitude to those who have rallied around him - friends, neighbours, work colleagues and clients - and to talk publicly about the cancer.
Along with from the tremendous physical pain and disfigurement, the greatest source of grief for Brad is the loss of the ability to eat or drink, and to taste his beloved food and wine.
The cancer has damaged his tastebuds, and he must take sustenance through a feeding tube in his abdomen.
"It's just so incredibly frustrating to me," Brad says.
This is a very hard way to live
- Brad Fernando
"It really is, to lose my sense of taste... It's awful. I said to Kate, I'm taking this one day at a time, and I'm hopeful that when there's some reconstruction done, I might get some capability to eat. Because, you know, this is a very hard way to live."
In what is a small but significant blessing, Brad says, his sense of smell has been heightened by the therapies he's undergone.
"I didn't think I'd even be able to smell again," he says.
Instead he finds scents and perfumes have intensified, and draws pleasure from seeking them out.
Kate Davis says a pleasure for Brad is to be able to inhale the aroma of good food, or a fine wine - or even a Big Mac hamburger.
"On the way home from second day of his last treatment, Brad said, I really just want to smell," Kate says.
"So he ordered a Big Mac. And I told him, 'I'm not eating the Big Mac!' But Brad wanted to smell it.
"I had this conversation with my kids. I said, 'Here is an incredible person whose life has changed dramatically, and he is still amazing. He's found joy in something that makes him happy, you know?'"
"If I can't do those things, what am I here for?" Brad adds.
Typically, Brad is as concerned for his clients and the feeling he's letting them down by his inability to represent them as he's done for years, encouraging people to eat and drink local food and wines. From local food producers to successful wineries including Summerfield in Moonambel, his career has included working for major restaurants in Melbourne and overseas.
He's worked with renowned chefs including Annie Smithers and Iain Hewitson, and for the past eight years his own business Regional Wine Sales Victoria has been at the forefront of promoting the best regional vignerons have to offer.
Brad began work in Carlton at the King and Godfree grocery store. Nearby his mother Heather was working at Jimmy Watson's wine bar.
She's still near him, in a care facility in Ballarat, where Brad has made his home for 20 years. It was the closeness of their relationship, Brad says, that gave him the will to go through with the treatment for the tumour.
"I wasn't going to go ahead with the surgery," Brad admits.
"I was going to take the path of euthanasia. I've had bitter pain over the years and it's been very tough, for 35 years of my life. I looked at what I was facing, and I didn't want to go ahead. I was tired.
"Fortunately I went to visit my mother, and she looked remarkably well. She's just the most beautiful person and we've had a wonderful relationship. She's always been so strong and been by my side. The thought of... exiting... before her, well - I couldn't."
Diagnosed with AIDS in 1992, Brad has suffered conditions from other cancers, including lymphedema and renal failure, sarcomas and other secondary responses.
He is, says Kate Davis, a "unique patient."
Brad is prospectively facing having his jaw reconstructed with titanium.
Kate Davis says the Rally for Braddy is based around Brad's love of wine, and his love of seeing people enjoy wine and conviviality.
She's asking people to purchase bottles or boxes of wine and donate them, so that she can make bespoke half-dozens called 'Brad's Boxes', which will then be sold online through the Mitchell Harris wine bar website.
So far 1200 bottles have been donated. The half dozens will be sold at $150 a box to raise funds. The wines will go on sale from Thursday February 11, and Kate Davis she's hoping there will be some very special vintages and bottles scattered throughout the donations. There will also be a silent auction of premium wines on February 27-28.
She's also established a Gofundme page to raise funds, which can be found on the website at 'Rally for Braddy'.
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