Oct. 7, 2024

A Nightmare Romance

A Nightmare Romance

Matt Towner thought his troubles were behind him after a horrific motorycle accident that should have killed him. He thought he was experiencing something incredibly romantic, when a woman he'd only been on one date with surprisingly volunteered to...

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Season 2

Matt Towner thought his troubles were behind him after a horrific motorycle accident that should have killed him. He thought he was experiencing something incredibly romantic, when a woman he'd only been on one date with surprisingly volunteered to help him rehabilitate. But his troubles were only just beginning.

You can learn more about Matt by reading his books:

Crazy Sh*t in Asia


https://au.newhollandpublishers.com/catalog/product/view/id/2488



Abroad, Broke & Busted



https://au.newhollandpublishers.com/catalog/product/view/id/2041



Allegedly is a production of Voyage Media. The series is produced by Nat Mundel, Robert Mitas and Dan Benamor. This episode, A Nightmare Romance, was written and directed by Dan Benamor. Executive Produced by Matt Towner. Watch this space for a link to Matt's upcoming book, Positivity.

Starring Jonathan Regier and Laura Bellomo. Edited, sound designed and mixed by James Scully.

If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts, or anywhere you're listening.

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My name is Matt Towner.

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And when I nearly died in a motorcycle accident and

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a girl that I'd only just met came to my

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hospital bedside, I thought it was the start of a

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beautiful love story, but in fact it was the beginning

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of a nightmare. I was forty years old when the

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global financial crisis hit. I was a very successful real

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estate agent and a beautiful beachside town Byron Bay in Australia,

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making one hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year, surfing

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and playing golf and being social. Then the global financial

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crisis hit. In that first year, I made seven thousand

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dollars one sale. Byron Bay is pretty much a luxury item,

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and no one was buying luxury items. Some friends and

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I had purchased fifty acres overlooking the beach and the mountains,

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and we were in a lot of trouble in terms

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of trying to pay our bills, as were people all

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over the world. The bank basically said if we didn't

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sell up, they will, so we had to sell and

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we bought a property for three million dollars.

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Honey felt like three days.

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Was probably three months before the Global financial crisis, but

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we'd held on for a year and we just couldn't

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hold on anymore and sold for just over one and

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a half million. We all walked away with absolutely nothing.

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By the stage, we were just ready, all of us

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to do something. Before we considered whether we had to

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declare ourselves bankrupt or not. We went to Thailand and

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we wanted to go on an adventure and get it

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far away from civilization as we could. The night before

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I left my home in Byron Bay, Australia to go

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on a motorcycle adventure in the Jungles of Thailand, actually

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went on a first date with a gorgeous girl and

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it went very very well.

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Have you ever thought about politics?

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I try not to.

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You have a face for it, and the I I'd

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vote for you hardly, don't be modest?

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Why are you single?

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Just haven't found the right person? I suppose I could

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ask you the same question. I want someone doing something

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with their lives. Most men, at least the men i've met,

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I'm very happy not to.

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You need a better class of companion.

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The search continues. How will you know when you find

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the right person.

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I think I'll just know right now. I'm at a

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weird point in my life. A lot of things I

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thought would be my life have changed. I'm still finding

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my way to be honest.

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Not a good time to be alone, sounds like.

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No, I suppose not.

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From everything you've told me, sounds like you've already accomplished

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a lot. I'm sure you'll find your way through this.

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Yeah, I hope so.

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No, so.

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If you know so, it'll happen.

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That easier it can be. Yes, you're a very positive person.

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Life's too short to not go for the things we want.

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And what do you want tonight? Your trouble, good trouble.

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I'd promise that when I returned from my motorcycle adventure

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after two weeks, we'd go on our second date. Sadly

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that didn't happen because.

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I had an accident.

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Literally on the first day of motorcyculd adventure. Hired some

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dirt bikes and went from Bouquet up over the mountains

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and into the forest and found a little bar on

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the beach and sat and watched the sunset. It was

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a beautiful way to get away from the world, but

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on the way back I was certainly being way too

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wild and free, careless and carefree. No helmet, no shoes,

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board shorts, singlet and as I came over a hill

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I got some are I could still see the pothole

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that I knew I could not miss. As I landed,

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the whole bike turned sideways and the handlebars went through

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my stomach and came out the back of my spine,

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and I went down the mountain with the bike basically

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inside me. By the time I landed at the bottom

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of the hill, I knew that I'd broken my.

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Back straight away. It was classic Thailand. There were people

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all around me. I didn't know where they'd come from

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out of the jungle.

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Basically couldn't speak because I'd broken my ribs perforated by lungs.

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I'd fractured my skull, my spine, my ankle, my knee,

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my shoulder, my elbow, broken three ribs, and.

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Had a brain hemorrhage.

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My friend who was behind me, by the time he

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got to me, there were people all around me, and

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he didn't want me to see the look on his

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face because he says I was in four pieces. I

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kept saying my back, my back, don't touch me. But

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there was someone in a uniform there. I still do

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this day, don't know whether it was police or security,

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and he said okay, okay, ambulance, and just as I relaxed,

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they picked me up and put me in the back

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of a flatbed truck.

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I spent forty minutes in.

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The back of a flatbed truck where the broken spine

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and broken everything from head to toe on the right

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end side of my body. My skull was split white,

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my eyes kept filling with blood. They were holding me down,

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four people basically, one on each limb, waving smelling salts

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under my nose to bring me back into consciousness, back

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from death, and every part of my body was moving

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as the truck was moving. The crazy thing is that

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doctors specialists have explained to me that people who end

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up in a wheelchair, it's not because you have a

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broken spine, it's because you have a broken spinal cord.

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I spent forty minutes on that truck, being held down,

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going in and out of death, and.

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My spinal cord still didn't break, which your spinal cord

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is like a string of toothpaste. It was explained to

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me that's how fragile it is. So it was certainly

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a miracle. I have a rugby upbringing That's how I

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first started traveling. Contracted at twenty one to play rugby

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for San Diego, and I remember it was like when

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you're running on or off a rugby field and there's

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a tunnel of people either side of you cheering you on.

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It was like that with the opposite friends and family

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saying goodbye as I was going towards those pearly gates,

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and then the smelling salts had bring me back.

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They took me to a public.

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Hospital first because I had flashbacks of something like a

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Vietnam war movie. But I was still conscious or in

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and out of consciousness, and again with hardly being able

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to speak, I kept.

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Saying, insurance, I have insurance.

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I woke up three days later coming out of a

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coma in a five star private hospital which was brand new,

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the Bangkok Hospital Pouquette, and they'd stitched me all up,

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but they couldn't operate until I signed waivers because there

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was no guarantees I was ever going to be able

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to walk again. Lucky that I was alive. My head

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looked like a football with the stitches for the laces

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all the way down the top that had to shave

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my head. They had not yet put metal in my

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spine or metal in my ankle, but I still have

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both of those today. And I was in traction there

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for weeks, and then I was in that hospital for

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months before I could be flown back to Australia, and

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then in a wheelchair and.

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On crutches for about twelve months.

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It was literally day by day process to learn to

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walk and talk again.

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I am very lucky to be alive.

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The first thing that came to me when I came

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out of my coma was a voice.

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It was my voice, but.

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It wasn't me strange to say, but whatever you believe

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in the bigger picture of things, this voice, my voice, said,

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this is going to be the best thing that ever

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happens to you.

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And I truly believe.

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I know that if I had had the opposite voice

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or mantra to that, I would be either dead or

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in a wheelchair. It was that poar of positive thinking

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that got me to where I am today. I've been

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through a lot of healing therapies, rehability with a lot

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of people who have had a lot lesser accidents than me,

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but a lot less positive spirit.

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And I see them still with.

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Either serious physical issues or painkiller addictions and things like that,

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which I truly believe. Everything has its place, but the

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power positive thinking can be more important than anything else.

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I find everything funny. A lot of people don't find

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that funny, but I have to laugh. I was being

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way too careless and wild and free. That's what we

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were going there to do. But I was an extremist.

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Or it's have been, always will be.

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But I needed a.

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Slap, and I, or the universe or whatever, I gave

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myself a serious slap. Dave, who was traveling with me,

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was not only one of my property partners. That we

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purchased fifty acres overlooking Byron Bay with waterfalls and forest dwellings,

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and it was a paradise. But we'd certainly overextended ourselves,

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especially as the world thenmpletely changed. We just couldn't keep

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up with the payments. But at the same time, we'd

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gone back a long way. We were best of friends.

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I owned a nightclub in Byron Bay and then a

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real estate agency, so I joked that I knew everyone

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and all their dirty secrets, and Dave and I were

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partners in that nightclub, and he also owned the local cinema.

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We were the best of friends and still are to

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this day.

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I think, to this day he's still more in shock

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than I am because of what he had to experience

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in terms of seeing me in pieces and then following

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that truck, not knowing if I was going to make

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it or not, then even the days that I was

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in a coma, and then the time to wait to

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know whether I could walk again, which it was close

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to that two week mark before I not only I'd

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first phoned another great mate of ours who was in

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charge of all of my insurance. I'm now the biggest

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fan of insurance, which is one thing I espouse in

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my books. And I will hear that my travels picked

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up my two hundred thousand US dollar hospital bill in

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countries like Thailand, in many countries, if I hadn't had

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that insurance or a credit card to be able to

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pay for that, I would have been left in a

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waiting room and I would not be alive. So insurance

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was a lifesaver. Those villagers were a lifesaver. That brand

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new five star private hospital was a lifesaver.

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All of that was a lifesaver.

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And Dave was there to support me until I made

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the decision to firstly phone my friend who was in

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charge of all of the insurance. Again, I could hardly speak,

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so he then phoned my parents to let them know.

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I didn't want to phone anyone until I knew that

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I could walk again. I wanted to know the seriousness

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of the situation rather than people worrying from afar before

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anything was confirmed. And then I felt obliged to ring

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the girl who I had been on a date the

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day before I had the accident, to explain that that

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second date wasn't going to be two weeks, it was

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going to be.

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Two months or more.

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I was in shock because I was really being a

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gentleman and being polite to postpone a promise, but she

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immediately offered to jump on a plane and fly to

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my hospital bedside. I was speechless. I was speechless anyway,

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I could really hardly speak, so I immediately thought that was

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either beautifully sweet or incredibly strange. But I wasn't really

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in any position to argue, so yeah, she flew to

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my hospital bedside, and for pretty much that first week

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that out of coma and out of surgeries, I had

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three different serious operations would metal and pyronic bits into me.

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I then had someone i'd only just met on a

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first date. But it'd been a beautiful state in my

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hospital bedside, attending to me as well as the TI

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doctors and nurses were so yeah, I wasn't complaining. I

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had a morphine drip, which I think by the time

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she arrived, I had already overdone that and asked them

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to take that away because I got so carried away

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that I remember one night I was still in traction,

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so I was in a hospital bed, but I had

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metal coming out of me everywhere, wires, so I was,

237
00:13:29.360 --> 00:13:33.399
let's almost raised off the bed because of my broken spine,

238
00:13:34.480 --> 00:13:36.480
tubes coming out of to get the fluid off my

239
00:13:36.559 --> 00:13:38.919
lungs and all sorts of things. It was like I

240
00:13:39.039 --> 00:13:41.080
really wasn't like a scene out of The Bionic Man

241
00:13:41.600 --> 00:13:45.679
or some crazy movie. And I had gone so much

242
00:13:45.720 --> 00:13:49.279
on the morphine, which was unregulated, that I was hallucinating

243
00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:53.039
that I was sword fighting with dragons. And that's the

244
00:13:53.159 --> 00:13:56.159
night I thought, right, that's enough of the morphine and

245
00:13:56.200 --> 00:13:58.480
the nurses. The next morning I was I take that away,

246
00:14:00.320 --> 00:14:03.720
and I slowly but truly weaned myself off that intense

247
00:14:03.799 --> 00:14:07.279
a pain killing situation. I was still having to rest

248
00:14:07.320 --> 00:14:11.759
a lot when she arrived. One of the most painful

249
00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:15.240
things was redressing wounds, which they had to do every day,

250
00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:19.679
which was like tearing goreze off open patches where literally

251
00:14:19.720 --> 00:14:22.200
I could see bone, I could see some of my toes,

252
00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:25.080
I could see through my knee from my elbow, you

253
00:14:25.080 --> 00:14:30.200
could see. It was very bizarre, but she was there

254
00:14:30.240 --> 00:14:33.120
as well. She immediately jumped into the role of my

255
00:14:33.159 --> 00:14:37.559
girlfriend after a first date, being there supportive and caring

256
00:14:37.960 --> 00:14:40.000
and loving in that stage while I was in and

257
00:14:40.039 --> 00:14:48.440
out of a purple haze of pain. She was very convincing,

258
00:14:48.919 --> 00:14:51.759
one hundred percent hook line and sinker in every way.

259
00:14:51.879 --> 00:14:55.399
She immediately jumped into not just girlfriend like roll, a

260
00:14:55.480 --> 00:14:59.600
wifelike roll, cheering me up in every way. She was

261
00:15:00.279 --> 00:15:05.120
being very romantic but also being very much my naughty nurses,

262
00:15:05.960 --> 00:15:08.000
which when I look back, was really eccentric.

263
00:15:08.960 --> 00:15:12.320
But I am a bit eccentric, so that was really sweet.

264
00:15:29.159 --> 00:15:34.679
What are you wearing? That's some man's coat, isn't it.

265
00:15:35.480 --> 00:15:38.519
You've been so glum now.

266
00:15:38.600 --> 00:15:41.360
It's not as if I stubbed my toe.

267
00:15:41.960 --> 00:15:46.519
Fair enough, but I thought you needed something to cheer

268
00:15:46.559 --> 00:15:46.840
you up.

269
00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:49.200
You caught me a coat.

270
00:15:53.639 --> 00:16:02.639
No, oh, we need to check your vitals. Mister Twner.

271
00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:09.600
I'm not sure I can.

272
00:16:10.759 --> 00:16:13.039
Oh I think you can.

273
00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:15.720
Oh my.

274
00:16:18.120 --> 00:16:27.440
Oh oh, mister Tanner, I'm just being professional. Here are

275
00:16:27.480 --> 00:16:32.080
you staring at me? I might be that's inappropriate.

276
00:16:32.840 --> 00:16:34.840
Oh, I apologize.

277
00:16:35.639 --> 00:16:40.320
This is a hospital regulation outfit, sir.

278
00:16:40.919 --> 00:16:41.919
Uh huh.

279
00:16:42.039 --> 00:16:44.200
I might have gotten one a size or two too

280
00:16:44.200 --> 00:16:48.120
small and pouring out of it, aren't.

281
00:16:47.879 --> 00:16:54.399
I It would be ungentlemanly to say you just went back.

282
00:16:54.519 --> 00:17:00.240
Mister Tawner. You need your rest. We wouldn't want you're

283
00:17:00.279 --> 00:17:03.759
getting too excited.

284
00:17:05.359 --> 00:17:09.119
No, certainly not tell me. If you see the nights coming,

285
00:17:10.319 --> 00:17:11.000
I will.

286
00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:16.400
Wipe that smile off your face.

287
00:17:17.799 --> 00:17:25.680
I'm a professional, sir. Yes, ma'am, ha ha. Hands to yourself,

288
00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:26.480
mister Turner.

289
00:17:27.559 --> 00:17:28.559
Yes, ma'am.

290
00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:31.440
I don't want to get in trouble with my supervisor.

291
00:17:31.880 --> 00:17:33.640
I won't tell him.

292
00:17:33.640 --> 00:17:36.400
If you want a little secret then.

293
00:17:43.400 --> 00:17:44.160
Mm hmmm.

294
00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:46.440
Uh huh.

295
00:17:47.839 --> 00:17:51.279
Oh ah oh my.

296
00:17:53.400 --> 00:17:53.799
Mm hmm.

297
00:17:57.400 --> 00:17:57.880
Thank you.

298
00:17:58.200 --> 00:18:00.599
This was you didn't have to do this.

299
00:18:01.720 --> 00:18:05.079
Stay in the moment, mister Towna.

300
00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:08.960
Don't go all gushy on.

301
00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:20.000
Me now, okay, okay.

302
00:18:25.720 --> 00:18:27.880
I had a lot of very professional care, but it

303
00:18:27.960 --> 00:18:30.839
was also nice to have some affectionate care, even in

304
00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:34.799
funny nurse's uniforms and things that she would dress up

305
00:18:35.160 --> 00:18:39.000
that was fun and funny. She was already pitching me

306
00:18:39.519 --> 00:18:44.079
not only this white picket fence of my recovery and

307
00:18:44.200 --> 00:18:46.480
her nursing me back to health, which by I said,

308
00:18:46.559 --> 00:18:48.200
we knew was going to be a twelve month process,

309
00:18:48.839 --> 00:18:52.720
but then getting me onto some seminar circuit speaking about

310
00:18:52.759 --> 00:18:56.519
the power positive thinking and being able to sell this

311
00:18:56.680 --> 00:18:59.960
program that she was involved in, which then allowed people

312
00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:03.319
to also start to have stepping stones to be able

313
00:19:03.319 --> 00:19:08.839
to do the same. I've always been a seminar junkie,

314
00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:11.039
even from when I was in my early twenties.

315
00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:14.680
I was going to Anti Robinson, Dan Millman, and I've

316
00:19:14.720 --> 00:19:15.359
done all of.

317
00:19:15.240 --> 00:19:18.119
Those full theories, the way the peaceful worry out through

318
00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:21.880
to unleash the power within and raba kusaki.

319
00:19:21.400 --> 00:19:22.720
You name it. I've done them all.

320
00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:25.119
And then I'd been into a position where I was

321
00:19:25.160 --> 00:19:30.119
speaking the property investment seminars throughout Australia and Asia about

322
00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:33.599
the power of positive thinking in terms of cash flow,

323
00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:38.000
positive properties. It was all about positive investments. I had

324
00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:41.039
a database of over thirty thousand property investors that I'd

325
00:19:41.039 --> 00:19:44.200
been helping to buy cash flow positive properties over a

326
00:19:44.279 --> 00:19:48.599
decade and I was the perfect patsy for that at

327
00:19:48.599 --> 00:19:54.039
that stage. So like a seminar speaking multi level marketing

328
00:19:54.079 --> 00:19:57.640
business where you had to pay ten thousand dollars just

329
00:19:57.720 --> 00:19:59.640
to go to one of the seminars, for example in

330
00:19:59.680 --> 00:20:03.960
a or in the Caribbean. It was an American based scheme,

331
00:20:03.960 --> 00:20:06.720
but it had just arrived in Australia. There was already

332
00:20:06.759 --> 00:20:08.519
a woman on the Gold Coast who'd made a million

333
00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:11.960
dollars in the first year of doing this system just

334
00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:15.160
by introducing people who were paying ten thousand dollars a time.

335
00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:24.240
But it was very much a classic Ponzi scheme, but

336
00:20:24.599 --> 00:20:27.279
there was always an ulterior motive and I didn't really see.

337
00:20:27.359 --> 00:20:32.960
I guess my senses were down and also numbed, not only.

338
00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:35.559
By pain but by pain killers and by the accident.

339
00:20:36.319 --> 00:20:40.000
My brother and my sister still laugh, but they weren't

340
00:20:40.039 --> 00:20:42.799
laughing at the time because obviously, when I landed back

341
00:20:42.839 --> 00:20:46.359
in Australia after three months in intensive care and Thailand,

342
00:20:46.920 --> 00:20:49.839
we went immediately from the airport to my sister's house.

343
00:20:49.880 --> 00:20:53.160
My brother was there, my parents were there, obviously, very

344
00:20:53.200 --> 00:20:56.400
keen to see me and I was wheeled in by

345
00:20:56.640 --> 00:21:02.079
this woman who they immediately saw red flags all over.

346
00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:05.160
And they still talked to this.

347
00:21:05.200 --> 00:21:07.480
Day that they didn't know what to say, or they

348
00:21:07.480 --> 00:21:09.720
were just glad that I was alive. At that stage,

349
00:21:09.720 --> 00:21:12.839
I was still in a wheelchair, but they still laughed

350
00:21:12.920 --> 00:21:14.279
this day that it was like.

351
00:21:14.359 --> 00:21:16.319
Something out of a misery.

352
00:21:16.599 --> 00:21:20.440
It was a misery moment for my family, but they

353
00:21:20.680 --> 00:21:23.079
know what I'm like and they let it play out.

354
00:21:28.880 --> 00:21:31.279
After three months in hospital and Thailand, I spent three

355
00:21:31.319 --> 00:21:34.960
months in a wheelchair in her house, going back and

356
00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.359
forth from hospital for treatments and all of the things

357
00:21:39.359 --> 00:21:40.160
that I needed to do.

358
00:21:40.200 --> 00:21:42.720
And again she was very much assisting me with that.

359
00:21:42.839 --> 00:21:45.519
But by this stage, because she was pitching me from

360
00:21:45.519 --> 00:21:49.519
my hospital bed about this whole business model, and at

361
00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:52.039
that stage I was on the verge of bankruptcy from

362
00:21:52.119 --> 00:21:55.119
just having lost my property. I was open to a

363
00:21:55.160 --> 00:21:59.519
new career path. I was now incapacitated, and she was

364
00:21:59.559 --> 00:22:03.319
offering to use my email database of over thirty thousand

365
00:22:03.319 --> 00:22:07.640
people and create a cash flow positive income just from

366
00:22:08.039 --> 00:22:13.880
my story of survival, I became sort of the poster

367
00:22:13.960 --> 00:22:18.119
boy of this Ponzi scheme, which again had all the elements.

368
00:22:18.160 --> 00:22:20.519
Now that I look back on it and learned more

369
00:22:20.559 --> 00:22:23.480
about these sorts of things, all of these cult like

370
00:22:24.279 --> 00:22:29.359
especially the churchy based then business aligned pyramid schemes, have

371
00:22:29.440 --> 00:22:33.680
a very similar thing in common. They immediately indoctrinate. By

372
00:22:33.720 --> 00:22:36.079
this stage, we were tens of thousands of people. It

373
00:22:36.200 --> 00:22:38.119
was expanding all over the world, so there would have

374
00:22:38.119 --> 00:22:40.720
been hundreds of thousands of people. In fact, the seminar

375
00:22:40.759 --> 00:22:43.839
that I was wheeled to, she flew me to Hawaii

376
00:22:43.880 --> 00:22:47.319
to a seminar which can I paid for again out

377
00:22:47.359 --> 00:22:50.240
of the bottom of the barrel of any income that

378
00:22:50.319 --> 00:22:54.640
I had. There was this whole idea that don't read

379
00:22:54.640 --> 00:22:56.480
the media. You had to go on a total media

380
00:22:56.519 --> 00:22:59.000
block for while you learn about listen to what we're

381
00:22:59.079 --> 00:23:03.160
saying about the power positive thinking and how this model works,

382
00:23:03.160 --> 00:23:06.799
and how it's different than a whole Western world and

383
00:23:06.839 --> 00:23:10.720
the capitalist system. It becomes like your own church and

384
00:23:10.720 --> 00:23:16.519
then your own economy. Don't believe anyone who is a

385
00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:19.240
negative thinker is going to just put it down and

386
00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:21.680
you can disassociate from them, and a lot of your

387
00:23:21.680 --> 00:23:24.079
friends and family won't believe you, but they're going to

388
00:23:24.079 --> 00:23:27.640
be left behind. And it very much created this even

389
00:23:27.680 --> 00:23:30.480
within my little community. The people that she was starting

390
00:23:30.519 --> 00:23:33.519
to recruit, some of them were friends of mine. It

391
00:23:33.640 --> 00:23:36.359
became their own network that then you weren't sort of

392
00:23:36.400 --> 00:23:39.720
associating with anyone else, only people that were in this

393
00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:44.759
tupwar style club that were meeting for meetings. And then

394
00:23:44.799 --> 00:23:46.279
as soon as I got back to her place, it

395
00:23:46.319 --> 00:23:50.920
was very much a strict regime. I was certainly being

396
00:23:51.119 --> 00:23:55.400
fed and taken care of, but instead of being a

397
00:23:55.519 --> 00:23:58.799
very beautiful way, it was pretty harsh. She was a

398
00:23:58.920 --> 00:24:02.079
very hard task whist and basically it was her way

399
00:24:02.160 --> 00:24:07.759
or no way.

400
00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:19.119
Matt, Matt, from here.

401
00:24:22.160 --> 00:24:23.519
You drank all the milk.

402
00:24:25.559 --> 00:24:28.559
I had some cereal.

403
00:24:29.319 --> 00:24:31.480
Now I've got no milk for my tea.

404
00:24:32.319 --> 00:24:34.200
I'm sorry.

405
00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:38.759
We talked about this before. When you finish something, you

406
00:24:38.839 --> 00:24:39.279
tell me.

407
00:24:39.480 --> 00:24:42.720
I forgot the medication. Makes me a bit loopy. You

408
00:24:42.759 --> 00:24:45.799
know that's an excuse. I would get you more milk

409
00:24:45.839 --> 00:24:47.640
if I could.

410
00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:48.720
But you can't.

411
00:24:51.440 --> 00:24:54.279
I get the groceries every week, and had I known

412
00:24:54.359 --> 00:24:57.480
we were out of milk, I'd have gotten it. Just

413
00:24:57.759 --> 00:25:02.119
a word or two, that's all I am. As I

414
00:25:02.200 --> 00:25:06.400
care for you morning, and no is there anything I

415
00:25:06.400 --> 00:25:07.039
don't do for you?

416
00:25:08.839 --> 00:25:09.400
I guess not.

417
00:25:09.880 --> 00:25:11.880
Then, is this too much to ask for for this

418
00:25:11.960 --> 00:25:13.119
basic courtesy?

419
00:25:13.599 --> 00:25:21.480
No? Sorry, I forgive you. Ah, thanks, just don't do

420
00:25:21.559 --> 00:25:21.920
it again.

421
00:25:22.279 --> 00:25:26.759
All right? Okay, we need to do your exercises.

422
00:25:28.920 --> 00:25:31.519
I'm a bit tired at the moment from.

423
00:25:31.319 --> 00:25:34.119
What all you do is sit around.

424
00:25:36.079 --> 00:25:36.880
I didn't sleep.

425
00:25:36.920 --> 00:25:37.200
Well.

426
00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:40.039
It won't get better if we don't do your exercises.

427
00:25:41.039 --> 00:25:46.880
It's best to get them done straightway. Okay, don't give

428
00:25:46.880 --> 00:25:52.559
me that look. This is for your own good. All right,

429
00:25:53.519 --> 00:25:55.519
After we do your exercises, I want you to have

430
00:25:55.559 --> 00:25:58.400
a look at this email that I'm sending out about

431
00:25:58.400 --> 00:26:00.480
the program.

432
00:26:00.720 --> 00:26:04.240
Perhaps you should slow down on those. People don't like

433
00:26:04.319 --> 00:26:06.559
being bombarded with a lot of emails.

434
00:26:06.079 --> 00:26:06.839
In short order.

435
00:26:07.880 --> 00:26:11.480
Bombarded you've sent three in three days.

436
00:26:13.000 --> 00:26:17.160
This program will help people. We're not selling steak knives here.

437
00:26:18.119 --> 00:26:22.400
You should be dead, Matt. The power of positive thinking

438
00:26:22.720 --> 00:26:25.880
is the only reason you're alive right now? Don't you

439
00:26:25.880 --> 00:26:27.240
want to give that gift to others?

440
00:26:28.599 --> 00:26:30.519
I just think a breather would be good.

441
00:26:31.559 --> 00:26:33.519
Are you saying you won't help me?

442
00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:38.920
No? I guess not. Huh?

443
00:26:39.960 --> 00:26:40.359
All right?

444
00:26:40.400 --> 00:26:40.559
Then?

445
00:26:48.880 --> 00:26:51.480
She was very focused on, especially once she had the

446
00:26:51.480 --> 00:26:55.559
access to my database on just constantly following this model.

447
00:26:55.640 --> 00:26:56.279
That was all.

448
00:26:56.400 --> 00:26:59.759
This was very much early days of these online systems.

449
00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:03.000
You followed the leader, and that's literally how it worked.

450
00:27:03.039 --> 00:27:05.839
So the person above her would tell her what to do,

451
00:27:05.880 --> 00:27:07.640
and then she would get people under her and tell

452
00:27:07.680 --> 00:27:11.079
them what to do. And I was one of those,

453
00:27:11.599 --> 00:27:14.160
even unbeknownst to me in some ways, I was just

454
00:27:14.480 --> 00:27:17.519
being told what to do, but then pushed my wheelchair

455
00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:19.519
out of the way, whilst she could do everything and

456
00:27:19.559 --> 00:27:21.920
had access to all of my social media, which was

457
00:27:21.960 --> 00:27:25.160
pretty early in those days, but still after thirty thousand

458
00:27:25.200 --> 00:27:27.319
people on an email database, I think I had close

459
00:27:27.359 --> 00:27:28.799
to ten thousand social.

460
00:27:28.519 --> 00:27:31.680
Medias, which again then went horribly wrong.

461
00:27:37.400 --> 00:27:40.039
There were times when I was being treated like a

462
00:27:41.039 --> 00:27:44.440
disabled child in a wheelchair and I had a very

463
00:27:44.440 --> 00:27:46.759
grumpy matron hitting me.

464
00:27:46.799 --> 00:27:47.640
With a wooden ruler.

465
00:27:48.680 --> 00:27:51.839
It was when I remember, literally she wasn't letting me

466
00:27:51.839 --> 00:27:52.480
out of her sight.

467
00:27:52.640 --> 00:27:54.640
For forget. It was probably three months.

468
00:27:54.599 --> 00:27:56.839
I've done three months in intensive care in Thailand, and

469
00:27:56.880 --> 00:27:59.799
I was three months in her house and still in

470
00:27:59.839 --> 00:28:00.599
a wheelchair.

471
00:28:01.000 --> 00:28:04.160
But there was a moment when I was left.

472
00:28:04.079 --> 00:28:08.279
Alone, and again there had been all these rules, but

473
00:28:08.359 --> 00:28:12.519
there was no watching any news, No reading newspapers, no,

474
00:28:13.039 --> 00:28:15.759
you know, this whole cult like Ponzi scheme. You weren't

475
00:28:15.799 --> 00:28:19.319
allowed to even google the company. You know, there was

476
00:28:19.400 --> 00:28:22.559
very strict rules about just had to stay focused on

477
00:28:22.640 --> 00:28:27.960
this whole goal and this model. But I took the

478
00:28:28.000 --> 00:28:30.200
opportunity to stray outside that and as soon as I

479
00:28:30.240 --> 00:28:32.880
started googling, because so this stage, it had been in

480
00:28:32.920 --> 00:28:35.599
Australia for three months, so there had been cracks had

481
00:28:35.599 --> 00:28:38.359
started to show, firstly back in America where it had

482
00:28:38.400 --> 00:28:40.720
been going for a year or more, and there were

483
00:28:40.920 --> 00:28:43.839
multi millionaires from again anyone at the top.

484
00:28:44.400 --> 00:28:46.000
That's how those things work.

485
00:28:46.680 --> 00:28:50.759
But then I sort of realized the reality of what

486
00:28:51.440 --> 00:28:54.680
it was and that there were people who were going

487
00:28:54.720 --> 00:28:58.119
to get burnt because basically it was especially Australia is

488
00:28:58.119 --> 00:29:02.839
nowhere near the size of America. And I then realized

489
00:29:02.880 --> 00:29:06.680
what she was sending out to my database. That I'd

490
00:29:06.720 --> 00:29:09.640
offered cash flow positive properties to for a decade and

491
00:29:09.680 --> 00:29:12.839
had some very successful clients. In fact, I'd ridden the

492
00:29:12.880 --> 00:29:16.960
boom of Australian real estate and made people very happy,

493
00:29:17.039 --> 00:29:20.559
which was always my goal. It was then that I

494
00:29:20.640 --> 00:29:25.839
saw the issues. Then I sent an email myself. I

495
00:29:25.839 --> 00:29:28.599
was at a point that I'd wean myself off morphine.

496
00:29:28.680 --> 00:29:32.279
I'd gone from being on intravenously in the hospital, then

497
00:29:32.319 --> 00:29:35.559
on painkillers when I was in the wheelchair. But I

498
00:29:35.640 --> 00:29:38.880
was slowly but truly weaning myself off those to the

499
00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:41.240
point that I was even trying to not take as

500
00:29:41.240 --> 00:29:43.920
many as she was giving me. Yeah, it was then

501
00:29:43.960 --> 00:29:46.759
after that three months mark that I decided to get

502
00:29:46.799 --> 00:29:51.279
out of there. So I sent an email to my

503
00:29:51.359 --> 00:29:54.519
database to say that these emails aren't coming from me,

504
00:29:54.720 --> 00:29:59.839
and it's not a property investment. A lot of the time,

505
00:30:00.039 --> 00:30:03.759
you would just get really angry if I ever suggested

506
00:30:04.119 --> 00:30:08.279
due diligence, because he was such right down that rabbit hole,

507
00:30:08.279 --> 00:30:12.400
which a lot of people were. That's how those churches,

508
00:30:12.440 --> 00:30:18.160
those cults, those business models work. And I rang Dave,

509
00:30:18.359 --> 00:30:20.680
my friend who had been with me in the mozarcle acts,

510
00:30:20.640 --> 00:30:22.759
and he came and picked me up and we got

511
00:30:22.799 --> 00:30:23.480
out of the house.

512
00:30:27.000 --> 00:30:31.359
Your car has been forwarded to an automatic voice message system.

513
00:30:31.559 --> 00:30:32.720
Matt Chawner is.

514
00:30:32.680 --> 00:30:36.240
Not available at the town. Please record your message. When

515
00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:39.000
you have finished recording, you may hang up or press

516
00:30:39.079 --> 00:30:42.920
one for more options to lead your callback number, Press five.

517
00:30:44.480 --> 00:30:47.720
Matte, I don't know where you've gone or what you

518
00:30:47.759 --> 00:30:49.960
think you're doing. But I know you couldn't have gone

519
00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:52.759
far on your own. You know, after everything I've done

520
00:30:52.799 --> 00:30:57.079
for you, this is what you're doing. I was there

521
00:30:57.119 --> 00:31:00.640
for you. What other woman on planet Earth would do

522
00:31:00.880 --> 00:31:05.240
for you, the things I did upturn their entire life

523
00:31:05.480 --> 00:31:08.920
to care for you. I let you in my home.

524
00:31:10.720 --> 00:31:13.039
How could you do this to me? You're the most

525
00:31:13.160 --> 00:31:16.039
ungrateful man I've ever met. I thought you were special.

526
00:31:16.240 --> 00:31:18.640
I thought that you understood what I'm trying to build.

527
00:31:19.440 --> 00:31:22.960
I thought we could do it together. I guess I

528
00:31:23.119 --> 00:31:27.640
was wrong. Good luck Without.

529
00:31:27.359 --> 00:31:38.039
Me, we were literally making a run for it and

530
00:31:38.680 --> 00:31:41.839
getting out of there, and I remember feeling such a

531
00:31:42.039 --> 00:31:45.720
sense of freedom, and we actually went for a beer.

532
00:31:45.920 --> 00:31:48.039
It was the first time I had a beer after

533
00:31:48.200 --> 00:31:51.880
three months in hospital and three months in nurses care.

534
00:31:52.839 --> 00:31:56.000
It was then that I got the phone call from

535
00:31:56.039 --> 00:31:58.000
a friend of mine who used to run a lot

536
00:31:58.000 --> 00:32:01.440
of my business online thing I never forget.

537
00:32:01.519 --> 00:32:06.000
She said, are you online? And I said, no.

538
00:32:05.920 --> 00:32:08.359
I'm back where Dave and I had had our nightclub

539
00:32:08.960 --> 00:32:13.279
for the first time, celebrating that, and she said, someone's

540
00:32:13.400 --> 00:32:18.920
hacked in and is posting everything to everyone that you're

541
00:32:18.960 --> 00:32:22.880
not only bankrupt, but you're on child sex charges and

542
00:32:23.039 --> 00:32:28.039
suggesting that's you. I can still remember the feeling of

543
00:32:28.079 --> 00:32:28.759
the ball in.

544
00:32:28.680 --> 00:32:30.000
Your throat that it's.

545
00:32:29.960 --> 00:32:33.839
Like what we went straight from the bar to the

546
00:32:33.880 --> 00:32:37.640
bar and by police station. And again, the more that

547
00:32:37.680 --> 00:32:41.279
I've looked into this since it's classic textbook again from

548
00:32:41.319 --> 00:32:45.920
those sort of cults, churches, Ponzi schemes. As soon as

549
00:32:45.960 --> 00:32:49.920
anyone starts to discredit their more point fingers, the first

550
00:32:49.960 --> 00:32:53.279
thing they do is create a smear campaign to discredit

551
00:32:53.319 --> 00:32:56.640
that person immediately. It's wrong that people can do this

552
00:32:58.519 --> 00:33:01.880
without any evidence. Beat me to the police station and

553
00:33:02.359 --> 00:33:04.759
told the police that I had sent her hundreds of

554
00:33:04.880 --> 00:33:07.039
threatening text messages and emails.

555
00:33:07.319 --> 00:33:10.319
I hadn't sent one. I didn't even I'll have access

556
00:33:10.359 --> 00:33:10.839
to them.

557
00:33:11.200 --> 00:33:13.880
Basically, I then couldn't do anything because the charge has

558
00:33:13.880 --> 00:33:18.160
already been put against me, which was hilarious but not

559
00:33:18.359 --> 00:33:21.680
funny at all. I then went down the road of

560
00:33:21.759 --> 00:33:25.759
enlisting a lawyer fighting these Navy Oh it's called an

561
00:33:25.759 --> 00:33:30.680
Australian apprehended violence order against me by this woman who

562
00:33:30.720 --> 00:33:33.079
was basically just trying to discredit me, because by this stage,

563
00:33:33.079 --> 00:33:35.640
all in the same afternoon, while I was enjoying my

564
00:33:35.759 --> 00:33:38.319
first beer my freedom and thinking that I had nipped

565
00:33:38.319 --> 00:33:41.680
it in the bud, sent an email saying, this isn't

566
00:33:41.720 --> 00:33:44.440
a positive investments email that's coming from me.

567
00:33:47.039 --> 00:33:48.319
Do your own due diligence.

568
00:33:49.200 --> 00:33:52.400
I wasn't doing anything to the level that I didn't

569
00:33:52.400 --> 00:33:53.079
expect where it.

570
00:33:53.039 --> 00:33:53.680
Would go next.

571
00:33:53.720 --> 00:33:57.039
I just said, Okay, that's me taking charge of my life,

572
00:33:57.079 --> 00:34:01.119
of my database, of my business. But the email that

573
00:34:01.160 --> 00:34:05.640
she then sent was to thirty thousand business contents that

574
00:34:05.680 --> 00:34:09.239
I'd created over a decade, as well as posting all

575
00:34:09.280 --> 00:34:13.239
over social media five thousand people on Facebook and thirty

576
00:34:13.280 --> 00:34:14.000
thousand people on.

577
00:34:13.920 --> 00:34:17.519
An email that she'd sent this email from me as

578
00:34:17.519 --> 00:34:18.320
if it was from me.

579
00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:23.800
Even wording this whole sad story that I had to

580
00:34:23.840 --> 00:34:27.199
tell people that I was bankrupted on child sex changes,

581
00:34:27.199 --> 00:34:31.000
which we then took to court. She didn't even turn up.

582
00:34:32.079 --> 00:34:35.960
There was no evidence of any threatening emails or text messages.

583
00:34:37.199 --> 00:34:39.039
The case was thrown out of court. It cost me

584
00:34:39.079 --> 00:34:43.199
eight thousand dollars in legal fees. My lawyer, I remember,

585
00:34:43.239 --> 00:34:46.239
said well, where's the retribution of my client's costs?

586
00:34:46.559 --> 00:34:48.800
And the judge said, well, you know, it doesn't work.

587
00:34:48.639 --> 00:34:51.480
Like that, which again sadly is a problem with the

588
00:34:51.559 --> 00:34:53.719
legal system in some ways that people can just make

589
00:34:53.760 --> 00:34:58.440
accusations with no evidence whatsoever and then walk away.

590
00:34:58.920 --> 00:35:00.000
And I haven't seen her since.

591
00:35:02.760 --> 00:35:04.400
All we could do is go back to the pub

592
00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:08.880
and have another beer. Dave and I did that, and

593
00:35:08.920 --> 00:35:11.519
again watch the sunset in our beautiful town of barn Bay,

594
00:35:11.920 --> 00:35:16.400
but this time after one more beer before sunset.

595
00:35:17.800 --> 00:35:20.760
Instead of jumping on motorbikes, we got a taxi.

596
00:35:34.320 --> 00:35:37.519
Allegedly is a production of Voyage Media. The series is

597
00:35:37.559 --> 00:35:40.119
produced by nat Mondel, Albertmidus, and Dan Benimore.

598
00:35:40.800 --> 00:35:44.320
This episode, a Nightmare Romance, was written and directed by

599
00:35:44.360 --> 00:35:47.519
Dan Bennimore, Executive produced by Matt Towner.

600
00:35:47.960 --> 00:35:49.960
You can learn more about Matt's slave by reading his

601
00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:52.159
book Positivity, available now.

602
00:35:52.639 --> 00:35:56.440
A link is in the show notes, starring Jonathan Riguier

603
00:35:56.760 --> 00:36:02.000
and Laura Balomo. Edited sound designed and mixed by James Scully.

604
00:36:02.679 --> 00:36:04.960
If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a five

605
00:36:04.960 --> 00:36:08.119
star review on Apple Podcasts or anywhere you're listening, and

606
00:36:08.199 --> 00:36:10.039
subscribe now for future episodes.