Patient stories

PMRI has helped thousands of Australians to manage their acute, chronic and cancer pain. This section profiles the stories of some of our patients.

We invite you to submit your story to us by email to PMRI.hotline@med.usyd.edu.au. Identifying details will be removed or altered before publication if you wish, and confidentiality will be assured. Some names have been changed on the stories below to protect privacy, but all factual details are as submitted to us.

If you have acute, chronic and cancer pain and would like to make an appointment at the Pain Clinical Service Centreyou first need to visit your GP and ask for a referral. Gather all relevant test results, scans and medical reports then call us at +61 (0)2 9926 7676. We will send you an information kit which you will need to complete and send to us at:

Pain Management & Research Centre
Level 9, Main block
Royal North Shore Hospital
St Leonards, NSW 2065

For more information, please visit our website on Clinical Service.

 Barbara Walker: BARBARA WALKER entered an Adapt course in 1995 "feeling very skeptical, as it sounded like some Pollyanna fairy tale", but was taught problem-solving strategies.

 Barbara Walker: Barbara Walker suffered chronic pain after a breast cancer operation, crossed the world in search of a cure, and finally entered the Adapt course, which she says turned her life around….

 Lorraine Havin: Lorraine Havin, 76 "I'd had six major back operations - pieces of bone taken from my hip, braced to my spine, titanium screws put in, taken out….

 Rebecca Myers: Rebecca Myers, 18 "I was 14, doing gymnastics training 15 hours a week, when I ran into the vault horse and fractured my lower back. I changed my mind at the last minute and baulked….

 Ross Stothard: Ross Stothard gives a throaty chortle as he recalls his first week at the Adapt pain management course: “I felt so angry, I was going to throw the bloody psychologist out the window.” But…..

 Simone Stanford: Simone Stanford 39, was 20 years old, studying to be a concert pianist, newly married and driving with her husband, when a car accident left her a quadriplegic….

 Steve Moylan: Steve Moylan, 42 "I was a cop for 20 years, mostly in plain clothes. "In 1995, I was walking along a footpath, when a four-¬wheel drive ran off the road and pinned me against the wall with its roo bar….