How a health diagnosis changed one man’s outlook on life

HCF member Trevor Tyne has faced extreme health challenges, but those events changed his life for the better. Read about his health journey, and how HCF was there to support him.   

Trevor Tyne is a fit and active mathematician, who has been an HCF member since 2000. He has an incredibly positive outlook on life. Through tough times and through good times, his view has always been to look on the bright side.  

In 2012, Trevor was diagnosed with a rare condition. At the time, Trevor was a karate student who took his studies seriously. “I was doing a competition at the time, and I was working towards a higher-grade black belt,” he says. “I had to train a lot – five days a week, maybe twice a day.”   

Feeling the stress from his treatment for his condition, Trevor then had a surfing accident. “It seemed like I couldn’t leave the house without something happening,” he says, looking back on that time. 

Recovering with Uncommon Care 

After recovering from the surfing accident, Trevor then found himself in the emergency room of a hospital after feeling unwell. While lying on a bed and talking to his daughter on the phone, Trevor remembers telling her he had to go.  

“I had a heart attack, and for about four minutes I was out of action,” says Trevor. His heart had stopped, and doctors were performing CPR and using the defibrillator to bring him to life. Doctors inserted a stent in Trevor’s coronary artery.   

What helped Trevor on his road to recovery was support – from friends and family, but also from HCF. He’d been an HCF member for many years, and had begun talking to Lynette, one of our customer service staff members, during his treatment for his condition before his heart attack. Lynette was a great sounding board and supporter of Trevor.  

“When I had to take off six months to recover from the heart attack, it had a terrible impact on my career,” Trevor says. “It had a devastating impact mentally as well. When you go through health issues, when you go through all this, you need support. You don’t need to be fighting with institutions.  

“Lynette was extremely proactive. She listened, she engaged, and tried to understand my point of view.”  

He felt Lynette went above and beyond to answer and address his queries, describing her as “remarkable” and “extraordinary”.   

He says she’s a great example of “how, at every level of your company, people do actually care”.  

Improving heart health one passion at a time

Trevor hasn’t taken a backwards step since completing his rehabilitation from his heart attack, concentrating on getting better and focusing on activities he enjoys.   

“Currently I do a lot of art, qigong, acupuncture, meditation, mindfulness training, forest walking, forest bathing,” he says. “I don’t do hard forms of martial arts anymore but take a softer approach. 

“After the heart attack, everything changed, and it allowed me to deal with the other things that have happened since then.  

“When you [face your own] mortality, you can’t help but change. But the change for me was positive. It was such a gift. Things I used to worry about, I don’t worry about anymore. I don’t stress about things, and I have amazing friends and family support.  In life, when confronted with these seemingly challenging events, they are, for some people, stepping stones for permanent positive change.”  

It’s a good attitude to have, especially now that Trevor is taking part in a medical trial for his rare condition. “Having a company like HCF behind you helps you get the care that you want and that you need,” he says. 

Acts of Uncommon Care 

As HCF celebrates its 90th birthday in 2022, we’re celebrating all the uncommon acts of care, big and small, that have helped our members through the tough times.   

From humble beginnings in 1932, we’ve grown to become Australia’s largest not-for-profit health fund, but we’re not like the others. We’re different because we care, and caring for our members means we do uncommon things, like putting people before profit.  

Read more about HCF’s ground-breaking stories of health and innovation.   

Words by Carrie Hutchinson 
Published September 2022