Elsie Lange
In February this year, a much-loved member of the Macedon Ranges firefighting community died after a 10-month-long battle with synovial sarcoma.
But not before the firefighting helicopter he’d worked on for years landed on top of the Royal Melbourne Hospital to bid him farewell, just a day before he succumbed to the disease.
Adam Damen was just 40 when he died, and his wife Michelle said the specially arranged landing meant the world to him.
“He was over the moon,” Michelle said. “That helicopter had been his baby for so long.”
Organised between his former workplace, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), the Country Fire Authority (CFA), the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (Peter Mac) and the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Michelle said all involved were determined to make it happen.
The landing allowed Adam to see for himself the upgraded aerial intelligence gathering helicopter, which he’d helped develop in his work doing forest fire management for DELWP – even when he was sick.
“He’d been sick so he had to just do it all via phone, he hadn’t seen the new refurbished machine and he really wanted to,” Michelle said.
It was the first time a non-ambulance helicopter landed on the hospital roof.
Adam and Michelle’s story is a beautiful one: they met 23 years ago when they were both in year 12 at Gisborne High School, and now have two children, Lucy and Eleanor.
The couple worked alongside each other through Mount Macedon CFA and DELWP, as colleagues and as friends, and Michelle described her late husband as dedicated, hardworking and passionate about fire and protecting communities.
“You never really know how many people out there appreciate what you do until something like this happens and I wish Adam had known,” Michelle said.
She said fire was Adam’s life – during his time he’d served during the Black Saturday and Black Summer fires and across the country.
“He felt like he had only just scratched the surface in the things he wanted to do,” she said.
“But when you look at how much he had already done, that’s really astounding.”
Michelle praised the care Adam received at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Peter Mac since his diagnosis.
“It’s been a pretty hectic journey, but a beautiful one too,“ she said.
