Reader's Digest_May 2022

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CONTENTS 26

MAY 2022

Features

PHOTOS: (COVER) VINCENT DEMERS/GETTY IMAGES; (THIS PAGE) COURTESY OF PEDRO VAZ PINTO 26 50 68

earth’s heroes food on your plate humour

Saving The Pass The Peas, Please Raising Kids: To
Giant Sables Coddle Or Neglect?
This tiny green
One man’s mission to vegetable delighted A father weighs in on
save the curly-horned royals in bygone this parenting debate.
antelopes. years.
RICHARD GLOVER
ASHLEY STIMPSON KATE LOWENSTEIN,
FROM ATLAS OBSCURA DANIEL GRITZER AND 72
DIANE GODLEY
32 what it’s like to...
54
health Volunteer On An
mother’s day special Archaeological Dig
Get Your Best
Sleep Ever Mama, This Story Opportunities for those
Is For You seeking adventure.
Have trouble getting
to sleep or staying Showing affection is GIL DAVIS FROM THE
asleep? LEAH RUMACK a mother’s simple CONVERSATION
pleasure.
AND MARK WITTEN 78
HELENE MELYAN
40 FROM THE OREGONIAN culture

drama in real life 58 An Ancient Elixir

Run Over By health A centuries-old secret
A Speedboat recipe made by monks.
The Promise Of
A snorkelling trip left Intermittent Fasting MARION RENAULT FROM
student Carter Viss THE NEW YORK TIMES
maimed after a speed Could the benefits
boat failed to see him. extend beyond your 86
waistline?
GARY STEPHEN ROSS photo feature
ROZALYNN S. FRAZIER
Once Upon A Time
ON THE COVER: CHASING THE NORTHERN LIGHTS – PAGE 112
Nature and decay can
create treasures.

DORIS KOCHANEK

readersdigest.com.au 1

CONTENTS

MAY 2022

94 Departments 23rd
ANNIVERSARY
then and now the digest
SPECIAL
The Gym 18 Pets
20 Health 2022
Sweating it out is not 24 News From The
new. ZOË MEUNIER Trusted
World Of Medicine Brands
100 133 RD Recommends Supplement

13 things... regulars CONTENTS

Boredom-Busting 4 Editor’s Note 151 Cover
Facts About 6 Letters 152 A Sign Of Trust
Board Games 10 News Worth
In Australia
Spend a night in. Sharing 156 Tables: Winners
12 My Story
EMILY GOODMAN 16 Smart Animals And Highly
62 Look Twice Commended
106 76 Tell Me Why 160 Featured Brands
92 Quotable Quotes 272 Trust By The
quiz Numbers
humour 274 Doctors,
Easy Pickings Champions In
48 Life’s Like That Trust
A quiz on robberies. 66 Laughter,
2022 SURVEY
CAROLINE FRIEDMANN The Best Medicine RESULTS
104 All In A Day’s Work OUT NOW!
112
the genius section
travel 138 Should You Press

Chasing The Pause?
Northern Lights 142 Puzzles
145 Trivia
Nature at its primeval 146 Puzzle Answers
best. SALLIE TISDALE 147 Word Power

FROM HARPER’S MAGAZINE FOLLOW US
@ReadersDigestAustralia
120

bonus read

The Last Frontier

Quirky canines that
detect medical issues.

ADAM PIORE

2 may 2022

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READER’S DIGEST ILLUSTRATION: JOHN HENDRIX

EDITOR’S NOTE

From Mum, With Love

THIS MONTH, MY FAVOURITE ARTICLE, ‘Mama, This Story Is For
You’ (page 54), beautifully captures the way an elderly mother shows
her love through gift-giving. The nurturing she offers her family through
random acts of decluttering (disguised as gift-giving) will ring true to
many of us. While a pleasure to read, this tale is
easy to relate to with our own mothers.

Intermittent fasting, the 5:2 diet,
alternate day fasting ... call it what you
will, this dieting approach has received
a lot of attention in recent years. While
it sounds extreme, don’t be turned off
by the fasting element because this
diet is all about controlling when you
eat, not necessarily eliminating the
food you enjoy to eat. As Rozalynn S.
Frazier reports in our health feature,
‘The Promise Of Intermittent Fasting’
(page 58), intermittent fasting offers a whole range of health benefits.

This month marks the 23rd year of our annual Trusted Brands
survey (page 151). We are very proud of both the survey and the
widely recognised Reader’s Digest Trustmark logo. Both are among
the oldest consumer awards and logos in the local and international
marketplace. Today, the Reader’s Digest Trustmark logo is a powerful
trust signal that continues to give consumers extra confidence that
their purchasing decision is a good one.

LOUISE WATERSON Editor-in-Chief

4 may 2022

AUSTRALIA

Vol. 202 TH
No. 1204
May 2022

EDITORIAL
Editor-in-Chief Louise Waterson
Managing Editor Zoë Meunier
Chief Subeditor Melanie Egan
Art Director Hugh Hanson
Senior Art Designer Adele Burley
Art Designer Annie Li
Senior Editor Diane Godley
Associate Editor Victoria Polzot

DIGITAL
Head of Digital Content Greg Barton

ADVERTISING
Group Advertising
& Retail Sales Director Sheron White
Sales Manager Darlene Delaney
Advertising Support Manager Rebecca Zhang

•All ADVERTISING

and RETAIL INQUIRIES ONLY
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READER’S DIGEST

LETTERS

Reader’s Comments And Opinions

Very Best Of Friends

Two wombats are better
than one thanks to Anna
Culliton (‘Best Of Buddies’,
March). These lovable
marsupials now have a
fighting chance of survival
due to this carer’s dedication
and love.

Anna’s endearing nature
means that the natural
world will always endure.

MICHAEL WOUTERS

Rescued From The Cave this story to have a happy ending.

When news broke of the successful Their incredible and perilous rescue
rescue of the Wild Boars soccer
team and their coach from deep by real life heroes will go down in
inside a flooded Thai cave, there
were shock waves of disbelief and history as one of the greatest; the
joy around the world (‘The Boys In
The Cave’, February). After more story of a miracle rescue, and angels
than two weeks lost to the outside
world, and with no food and little in wetsuits. JUDITH CAINE
water, few would have expected
Celebrating A Century Of RD PHOTO: COURTESY ANNA CULLITON

Congratulations to the staff at RD,
both past and present. Having been a
subscriber since 1948, I have learned

Let us know if you are moved – or provoked – by any item in the magazine,
share your thoughts. See page 8 for how to join the discussion.

6 may 2022

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES such a lot from your magazine and Letters
been both uplifted and amused by
the different sections. HAPPY FEET

I was introduced to your We asked you to think up a funny
magazine after starting my first caption for this photo.
job after leaving school. The man
I worked for surprised me with I wanted slippers not flippers.
a gift subscription. After that, I
continued, and expect to be able to RAJ SANEJA
enjoy the RD for a few more years
yet! Is 70-plus years a record? I’ll be a shoo-in this time, for sure.

I was delighted to read about your CYNTHIA BRINKMAN
first publication in Australia as I
had been curious about that and Footloose – The Prequel.
had assumed that it would have
been after WWII. I have even been MICHAEL GOATHAM
‘inspired’ to write a bit of verse. Yes,
I took my Digest everywhere, even The BIG problem with
into the maternity ward! hand-me-downs.

May your worthy magazine IVAN LIM
continue for another century.  
The advertisement said ‘GIANT
AUDREY TWINING SALE’, but this is ridiculous!

WIN A PILOT CAPLESS DAVID STEVENS
FOUNTAIN PEN
Congratulations to this month’s
The best letter each month winner, Michael Goatham.
will win a Pilot Capless
Fountain Pen, valued at over WIN!
$200. The Capless is the
perfect combination of luxury CAPTION CONTEST
and ingenious technology,
featuring a one-of-a-kind Come up with the funniest caption
retractable fountain pen nib, for the above photo and you could win
durable metal body, beautiful
rhodium accents and a 14K $100. To enter, email
gold nib. Congratulations to this [email protected]
month’s winner, Alice Lawrey.
or see details on page 8.

readersdigest.com.au 7

READER’S DIGEST

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which reasons. DON KENNARD

8 may 2022

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READER’S DIGEST

NEWS WORTH SHARING

Turning Old Tyres Into New Playgrounds

Brightly coloured caterpillars, Reusing some of the millions of tyres
octopuses and elephants are discarded in India every year is a win-
appearing on vacant blocks of win situation. As well as providing a
land in dozens of Indian cities, much playground, it helps the environment
to the joy of local children. Made from by reducing air pollution caused when
old tyres, scrap metal and upcycled the tyres are burned. Before the tyres
rope, these jungle gyms are low- are repurposed for play, they are
cost, sustainable play spaces built by thoroughly cleaned, inspected and
Anthill Creations of Bangalore. A new painted bright colours. So far Anthill
playground can be completed in five has built 300 playgrounds across India.
days at a cost of just A$3300.
But Rai’s work doesn’t end there. He
Anthill Creations’ CEO, architect plans to work with local governments,
Pooja Rai, founded the company in donors and his team of 30 volunteers
2014 after watching children at an to convert more empty lots into
orphanage play with broken pipes. community spaces.

COMPILED BY VICTORIA POLZOT

10 may 2022

News Worth Sharing

IMAGES: PLAYGROUND, ANTHILL CREATIONS; CAT PHONE, GETTY IMAGES; PHONE POEM, TELEPOEM BOOTH. Looking For Love? Pets Dial A Rhyme
Find Homes With App
In Brisbee, Arizona, there is an old
Seeking a long-term phone booth with bifold doors
relationship with someone and a rotary dial. If you call a
single, lonely – and furry? number from the booth’s directory,
In Munich, Germany, there’s an you’re connected to a lyrical voice
app for that. – one of around 100 local and
famous poets reading their work.
Faced with an influx of Like the evocative ‘Waiting’ by Jesse
animals that were adopted Sensibar: “I know what it feels like
during lockdowns and then to wait so long you forget over the
surrendered when owners years you were even waiting. Except
returned to work, the Munich that every once in a while you catch
Animal Welfare Association yourself looking out the window to
teamed up with an advertising see if they have finally returned.”
agency to create ‘dating’ profiles
for 15 adoptable pets on the Like the verse you may hear when
popular app Tinder. Complete you dial, the phone call is free. The
with photos and a list of things Telepoem Booth is the brainchild
the animals like and dislike (two- of artist Elizabeth Hellstern, who
year-old cat Captain Kirk, for has also set up booths in Dubuque,
example, enjoys cuddles but not Iowa; Santa Fe, New Mexico; at New
small children), the profiles have Mexico Highlands University; and
received overwhelming interest. near Penn State University.

After being screened, “Hearing the poet reading
prospective adopters arrange a his own poetry brings it to life,”
meet-and-greet with their new Hellstern says. “It conveys a lot of
match at the shelter. human emotions.” And so does a
telephone call.

readersdigest.com.au 11

MY STORY

Finding
Myself In

India

Life took me in a
different direction from

what I had planned

BY Barbara Ann Briggs

The year was 2001. It was London. His letter helped me get the ILLUSTRATION: GETTY IMAGES
November and the weather difficult five-year visa which I was
was cold and brisk, typical hoping to secure.
British weather. I was about
to embark on a journey After arriving at the airport, I
to the Asian sub-continent. The stood in the check-in queue. As my
airport was Heathrow; the plane was luggage was loaded onto the plane,
scheduled to depart in four hours. I murmured a silent farewell to
England, the country which had
During a visit to India the sheltered me for eight years. I had
previous year, a monk named Swami emigrated to England to escape
Awadheshanand Giri had met me the social tensions that divided my
at a religious festival and invited me native US. I had the opportunity to
to come and live in his ashram. He visit India several times, and felt an
wanted to help me fulfil my wish to inner calling to go back. This wish
devote myself to the study of Sanskrit appeared to be fulfilled when I met
and the Vedic literature. He even Swami Awadheshanand Giri, the
wrote a letter which I presented orange-robed monk, and he began
to the Indian High Commission in to talk about his ashram near the

12 may 2022

My Story

Punjab. After expressing my desire and we set off in the direction of the

to find a quiet place to focus on ashram. The taxi driver knew the

spiritual knowledge, he offered his way.

help. When I arrived, a young boy

With complete faith in his showed me to a simple, sparsely

promises, I loaded all my worldly furnished room in a courtyard. The

possessions onto a ship bound for ashram itself looked charming with

India. The shipping company told its pink buildings and blossoming

me that in a few months I would be rose gardens surrounding well-kept

able to collect my things in Delhi. lawns. It was quite a lavish entrance.

Everything had gone smoothly The most ornate building belonged

in the run-up to the trip. I was to the monk whom I had met; he

confident that this adventure was was the head of the ashram. I was

the next big step I had to take. informed that he would return soon.

At 4am on “THERE IS NO I was so relieved to
November 21, the have reached the

plane landed at PLACE HERE FOR place safely and in
Indira Gandhi YOU. YOU CAN’T a happy but totally
airport. The porters, STAY HERE FOR exhausted state, I
seeing that I was stretched out flat on

alone, ran up to A LONG TIME.” the bed and fell fast
help me with my
asleep.

luggage. They carried A few days later, I

it to the taxi stand where I asked was summoned to the main house

the driver to take me to the train to meet the head of the ashram.

station. I tried to sleep on the train, “Namaste,” he said in a deep tone

but couldn’t take my eyes off my of voice as he peered into my eyes.

luggage which was piled up around “I’m so glad you have come.”

me. “Is this really happening?” I He was tall with a shaven head

asked myself. It was like a movie and broad shoulders. His long

unravelling around me and yet this orange robe reached the ground,

was my own life unfolding. flowing in waves around his

Finally, we reached the small muscular frame.

town of Ambala. A taxi driver on the I thanked him for inviting me,

platform urged me to take his cab and assured him that I had enjoyed

a smooth trip and was glad to have

Barbara Briggs is a writer, poet and finally arrived at the ashram.
journalist. She is a teacher of transcendental “I’m glad you like it,” he said. “You
meditation and lives in Uttarakhand, India.
may stay here for a few days. Then it

readersdigest.com.au 13

READER’S DIGEST

will be better to find another place. time, although I did submit articles

I helped you get the five-year visa. to magazines and, occasionally, they

Now that you are in India, you are on paid me for them. After my five-

your own.” year visa expired, I renewed my visa

I was stunned. I was so shocked three times. I travelled overland by

that I couldn’t speak. I just sat there bus to Nepal twice and by train to

like a frozen statue. Bangladesh once.

“But – but, but you said I could stay Those years of wandering left an

in your ashram ...” I whispered. indelible impression. I was searching

“I wanted to help you, but now for an appropriate place to settle,

things have changed. There is but only later did I realise that the

no place here for you. I STOOD movement itself was
You can’t stay here for PERCHED ON meant for my spiritual
a long time.” development. If I had

That was it. THE BRINK OF only stayed in the
That was all he THE VAST ashram, I would never
said. I stood up and UNKNOWN have learned many
somehow reached valuable lessons. One

the door. My dream such lesson was that

had faded into thin air. I stood through perseverance and dedication

perched on the brink of the vast to one’s highest ideals in life, any

unknown, not sure of what to do. adverse situation can be overcome.

I was so disappointed and later, Those years of hardship enabled me

the anger surfaced. I could not to gain an unshakable trust in the

go back to England as all my power that administers the universe.

worldly possessions were on their The monk’s refusal to provide me

way to India. a home left me no alternative except

That was the first page of the new to face the vicissitudes of life with

chapter of my life in India. After endurance, courage and faith.

leaving the ashram, I spent the next I am writing this story from my

eight years living on the equivalent home in India. I have continued

of A$57 a month. Financially, it was my study of Sanskrit and continue

all that was available. I traversed the to study the Vedic literature in my

length of India from the bustling home.

ashrams of Haridwar to the hot

plains of Kerala and up to the Do you have a tale to tell? We’ll pay
Himalayan heights of Almora. Since cash for any original and unpublished
I didn’t have a work visa, it was not story we print. See page 8 for details

really possible to earn during this on how to contribute.

14 may 2022

A LEGACY OF HOPE

Chris O’Brien Lifehouse is a ProfessRr Chris O’Brien AO
comprehensive cancer centre
treating both public and private 3 Jan 1952 - 4 Jun 2009
patients. When Professor Chris
O’Brien AO was diagnosed with Chris O’Brien Lifehouse is not only
brain cancer, he used his diagnosis Chris’ legacy, but the legacy of our
to advocate for his vision of bringing community of gift in Will
together all elements of cancer care supporters. As a not-for-profit
in one place. hospital, our model of care relies on
our generous supporters, who
Today, Chris O’Brien Lifehouse is the enable major breakthroughs in
leading referral centre in Australia world-first cancer research and
for rare and complex cancers. We further advance our standards of
offer every type of treatment and specialised and holistic care.
service that people with cancer need
under one roof. Our clinicians are By leaving a gift in your Will to Chris
world-leaders in cancer research, O’Brien Lifehouse, you leave a
determined to find better ways to legacy of hope for people with
treat patients, improve outcomes cancer and their families, both now
and deliver uncompromising, and intR WKH IXWXUH.
patient-centred care.

To find out more about how you can make an impact, please
contact Rebecca Scott for a confidential discussion on
02 8514 0988 or [email protected].

READER’S DIGEST

SMART ANIMALS

Harbingers from the animal kingdom

Feathered Brothers Vlad had been with us for about ILLUSTRATIONS: GETTY IMAGES
a year when one afternoon, he came
MARGARET GERTZ down the side of the shed flapping
his wings and making unusual
In 1987, a male Muscovy duckling drake noises. He was very excited
came to live with us. Thinking about something.
Muscovy ducks were a Russian
breed, my 12-year-old daughter Since I couldn’t immediately
Janine named him Vladimir. follow, he waddled away quickly
Research later showed us that but a few minutes later returned,
Muscovy ducks are actually native just as agitated. This time I went to
to the Americas. investigate what might be causing
the fuss.
He was placed in the fowl yard
in our backyard where a hen with I got up to the backyard and
chickens took him under her wing. saw the reason: our valiant Black
He thrived under her care and grew
to be a big drake among the fowls. You could earn cash by telling us
We also had a fine-looking Black about the antics of unique pets or
Australorp rooster who was the wildlife. Turn to page 8 for details
boss of the chicken pen. Strangely on how to contribute.
enough, the two males got along.

16 may 2022

Smart Animals

Australorp rooster was standing and I got lost and couldn’t find
there with blood dripping from his the checkpoint marked on the
comb and feathers all ruffled. A big map. Worried, we froze and, as
black rooster from a neighbour’s we deliberated our next course of
pen was strutting his stuff in front action, we noticed a pair of dark,
of the chickens. When he saw me he medium-sized dogs approaching.
flew off. It was heart-warming to see We couldn’t identify their breed but
Vladimir go to our rooster as though they seemed friendly. After prancing
he was inspecting his injuries and in front of us for a couple of seconds,
consoling him. they moved on but regularly
turned their heads back to look at
Vladimir stayed with us as a us. They even slowed down, as if
much-loved pet, living a long and beckoning for us to follow. Since
happy life. we could not think of any other
viable alternatives, we let them lead
Guard Dogs us. Much to our amazement, after
walking for five minutes we reached
ONG SEE HAI the next checkpoint. Subsequently,
the dogs led us to all our remaining
In Singapore, most males aged 18 checkpoints, and even brought us
serve mandatory national service. back to base camp.
Occasionally, we are selected for
guard duty, which entails patrolling We found out later that these dogs
the perimeter of the military have been accompanying groups
camp in pairs. On my first patrol of soldiers on their guard duties for
last August, armed with only a some time, and as a result, were
torch and a map, my buddy Justin very familiar with the route. From
that day on, whenever it is my shift,
I have made a point of feeding
the dogs treats to show them my
gratitude for their tireless efforts in
guiding us soldiers around camp!

brought to you by

www.houseofpets.com.au

readersdigest.com.au 17

READER’S DIGEST

PETS

Teaching Your Dog Tricks

A fun and rewarding experience for you and your dog

BY Dr Katrina Warren

Our regular DOGS ARE SOCIAL ANIMALS who enjoy spending
pet columnist, time with us, and training is a wonderful way to create
Dr Katrina Warren, quality moments together. Teaching tricks not only
is an established provides a great mental workout for your dog, it also
and trusted improves your relationship and trust. Teaching your
animal expert. dog tricks should always be fun and rewarding for you
both. It’s entertaining and lets you show friends just
18 may 2022 how clever your canine pal is.

Here veterinarian Dr Katrina Warren shares her
expert tips to help you get underway.

Start the moment you bring your puppy home. Most
puppies are very enthusiastic and eager to learn, and
you will be amazed at what you can achieve together if
you commit to regular training.
You can teach an old dog new tricks. Older dogs will
also benefit from the mental stimulation of learning
tricks and it can further strengthen your bond.
Train when you are in a good mood. Training should
be a positive experience for your dog, so only train
when you are not tired or distracted. Put your mobile
phone away so you can focus without distractions. 
Train when your dog is alert. A dog has a short
attention span, so you should train when it is alert
and focused. Most dogs are eager for food before their
meals, so this is usually a good time for training. Keep

Pets

PHOTOS: GETTY IMAGES sessions short – five to ten minutes, EASY TRICKS TO TEACH
a couple of times a day, is enough to YOUR DOG AT HOME
make progress.
Free up your hands. Use a pouch to z Shake paw z Roll over z Spin
hold your treats. This will allow you z High five z Jump through a hoop
to access rewards quickly and keep
your hands free for teaching. fist to try to get the treat. As soon
Use ‘high value’ treats. These are as this happens, immediately say
treats that smell good to your dog ‘shake’ and let it have the reward
and will motivate it, for example, with lots of verbal praise, so it
small pieces of cooked chicken understands that is the behaviour
or meat. They’re especially useful you want.
when training new tricks. Don’t
forget to use verbal rewards as Practise this several times,
enthusiastic praise will help keep gradually moving your hand up
your pup motivated. and rewarding each time it offers its
Teach the basics first. Many tricks paw. Once it has mastered this, offer
will require your dog to know it your palm without the treat. As
the basics such as Sit, Stay and soon as it offers its paw, quickly give
Drop before you can progress. For a treat from your other hand.
example, you can’t teach your dog Teach your puppy to spin. When
to shake paws without it knowing your dog is standing, show it the treat
how to sit, or to roll over without it in your hand. With its nose following
knowing how to drop. the treat, move your hand in an arc
Finish training on a happy note. so its head and body will follow your
Always let your dog know when movement. Tell your dog ‘spin’ and
a session has finished by using a reward with the treat when it starts
release word such as ‘OK’ or ‘free’ moving in a circle.
and then playing a quick game.
Teach your dog to shake paws. readersdigest.com.au 19
Start by asking your dog to sit and
let it watch you place a ‘high value’
treat in your hand and close your
fist. Place your closed fist, palm
up, in front of your dog at its chest
level. Your dog will probably look at
your fist and sniff it but do not open
your fist for them.

Your dog should then paw at your

READER’S DIGEST

HEALTH or those of us who can’t
live without a morning
The Benefits cup (or three), the
Of Coffee latest assessments of

Drinking it is likely more Fthe health effects of
healthy than harmful coffee are reassuring. Its
consumption has been linked to a
BY Jane E. Brody reduced risk of all kinds of ailments,
including Parkinson’s disease, heart
FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES disease, type 2 diabetes, gallstones,
cirrhosis, liver cancer, melanoma
and prostate cancer. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

In fact, in numerous studies
conducted throughout the world,
consuming four or five 250 ml
cups of coffee (or about 400 to 500
milligrams of caffeine, coffee’s main
active ingredient) a day has been
associated with reduced death rates.
Published in 2015 in Circulation,
a study of more than 200,000
participants followed for up to 30
years found that those who drank
three to five cups of coffee a day, with
or without caffeine, were 15 per cent

less likely to die early from all
causes than were people who
shunned coffee.
As a report published
in 2020 by researchers at
the Harvard T. H. Chan
School of Public Health
concluded, although
current evidence may not
warrant recommending
coffee or caffeine to
prevent disease, for most
people drinking coffee in
moderation “can be part

20 may 2022

Health

of a healthy lifestyle”. They found likely increases with age. People

that consumption of three to five also vary widely in how rapidly

standard cups of daily coffee may in they metabolise caffeine, enabling

fact reduce the risk of several chronic some to sleep well after drinking

diseases, including type 2 diabetes caffeinated coffee at dinner while

and cardiovascular disease. others have trouble sleeping if they

It wasn’t always this way. Aside have coffee at lunch.

from the many health conditions Some of coffee’s other benefits

coffee has been deemed to cause, in come from polyphenols and

1991 it was even listed by the World antioxidants. Polyphenols can

Health Organization as WHEN IT inhibit the growth
a possible carcinogen. of cancer cells and

But in some of the COMES TO lower the risk of
type 2 diabetes;
now-discredited DECAFFEINATED antioxidants,
studies, it was smoking, which have anti-

not coffee drinking COFFEE, THERE

(the two often went ARE STILL SOME inflammatory effects,
hand in hand), that HEALTH can counter heart
was responsible for the BENEFITS disease and cancer.
purported carcinogen
None of this means

hazard. coffee is beneficial

“These periodic regardless of how it’s

scares have given the public a very prepared. When brewed without

distorted view,” says Dr Walter C. a paper filter, as with a French

Willett, professor of nutrition and press, espresso or Turkish coffee,

epidemiology at the Harvard Chan oily chemicals called diterpenes

School. “Despite various concerns come through that can raise

that have cropped up over the years, artery-damaging LDL cholesterol.

coffee is generally remarkably safe However, these chemicals are

and has a number of important virtually absent in both filtered and

potential benefits.” instant coffee.

That’s not to say coffee warrants a When it comes to decaf, there are

totally clean bill of health. The most still some health benefits. As with

common ill effect associated with caffeinated coffee, the polyphenols

it is sleep disturbance. While Dr it contains have anti-inflammatory

Willett says “you don’t have to get to properties that may lower the risk

zero consumption to minimise the of type 2 diabetes and cancer.

impact on sleep,” he acknowledges FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES (JUNE 14, 2021), ©2021 BY
that a person’s sensitivity to caffeine THE NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY

readersdigest.com.au 21

READER’S DIGEST

HEALTH

Honey As
A Home
Remedy

FROM: BEST HEALTH

FOR GRAZES, MINOR BURNS of honey to the skin and wash off PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
AND CUTS Slather some medical- after 20 minutes.

grade honey, then cover the wound READY-MADE OPTIONS
with clean gauze. Change the
dressing two or three times a day. Alternatively, you can purchase
ready-made honey products,
FOR SORE THROATS AND TICKLY which are available from several
COUGHS Honey is known as a pharmaceutical and natural
health companies; these include
demulcent, which means it coats the wound dressings and gels. Ask your
throat as it is swallowed and so eases pharmacist for further information.
irritation. The sweetness of the honey
also encourages salivation, so easing a WHAT HONEY SHOULD YOU
dry throat and encouraging expulsion CHOOSE? Large randomised studies
of phlegm. Steep 2 tablespoons
(40 ml) of grated ginger root in have shown that manuka honey is
1 cup (250 ml) of boiling water for ten superior to other types of honey in
minutes. Add 2 teaspoons (10 ml) of terms of its antimicrobial properties.
honey and 1 teaspoon (5 ml) of lemon As well as being antimicrobial,
juice. Drink before bed. manuka honey aids the removal
of dead tissue from wounds and
FOR DRY SKIN AND ACNE moistens the affected area, making
it more comfortable and easier to
Bathe the face in warm water to remove and reapply dressings.
open the pores, then apply a layer

22 may 2022

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MDiet | Grad Cert Nutrition | BHSc

READER’S DIGEST

News From the

WORLD OF MEDICINE

TAI CHI TRIMS BELLY FAT why some people stay mentally sharp, ILLUSTRATION: GETTY IMAGES
even though their brain may show
If walking on a treadmill seems signs of physical ageing or disease-
monotonous, consider tai chi, which related changes. In fact, people
offers a more fluid and graceful way to in the study who consistently had
stay fit. A Hong Kong study found that good listeners available when they
this centuries-old form of exercise needed to talk had a brain that acted
– often described as ‘meditation in four years younger than would be
motion’ – trims abdominal fat as expected based on their age.
effectively as conventional exercise. In
fact, older adults who did tai chi three While researchers don’t know
times a week for 12 weeks reduced exactly why this works, they believe
their waistlines as much as those it stimulates new connections in
who did regular aerobic exercise and the brain. Supportive listening may
strength training, while also boosting also lessen the effects of chronic
their HDL, or good cholesterol. stress on the brain, such as systemic
inflammation.
WHY YOU NEED A SUPPORTIVE
LISTENER BERRIES PROMOTE GOOD
BLOOD PRESSURE
You can get by with a little help from
your friends, as the Beatles song goes, A German and Irish study revealed
but it turns out that support might that eating foods rich in flavonoids
also keep your brain in better shape, – such as berries, pears and apples –
too. A JAMA Network study found creates a virtuous cycle inside your
that people who had a good
listener available to them body. These plant compounds
throughout their adult increase the abundance and
lives showed greater diversity of good bacteria
cognitive resilience in the gut, which in turn
and were less likely to helps your body better
develop Alzheimer’s metabolise the next
disease. flavonoids to come
along, enhancing their
Cognitive resilience is natural medicinal effects
the term used to explain on blood pressure.

24 may 2022



READER’S DIGEST

Saving The

Biologist Pedro Vaz Pinto is on a mission to bring Angola’s

A herd of giant sables in Luando
Integral Nature Reserve

26 may 2022

EARTH’S HEROES

Giant Sable

curly-horned antelope back from the brink of extinction

BY Ashley Stimpson

FROM ATLAS OBSCURA

readersdigest.com.au 27

READER’S DIGEST

T he giant sable bull tranquillising and transporting the
arrived dangling 250-kilogram bull. It would journey
beneath a sun- another 100 kilometres north to Can-
ny-yellow heli- gandala National Park, where it and
copter, its 1.3-me- nine female giant sables would com-
tre-long horns prise the world’s first captive breed-
curving back to- ing programme for the nearly extinct
animal.
wards its flanks.
“It was an absolute magical mo-
As it came into view, the hundreds ment,” Vaz Pinto says with an in-
credulous smile as he reflects on
of people who had been waiting to that summer day in 2009. Though
Vaz Pinto has enjoyed many magi-
greet the massive antelope at the dry, cal moments over the course of his
20-year mission to save the distinc-
grassy edge of Angola’s Luando Inte- tive ungulate, the creature’s future
remains fraught.
gral Nature Reserve broke into tears,

song, laughter and dancing.

For the Angolan people, the giant

sable is a national symbol, adorn-

ing everything from soccer jerseys

WHEN ANGOLA’S CIVIL WAR ENDED, NO ONE
KNEW IF THERE WERE ANY GIANT SABLES LEFT

to postage stamps. But this particu- The giant sable is found in Angola’s
lar animal represented something largely undeveloped interior, when it
even greater – hope. can be found at all. No foreigner laid
eyes on one until 1916 – more than
After the helicopter pilot deftly de- four centuries after Portuguese ex-
livered the tranquillised bull to the plorers first landed on Angola’s shore
ground, a group of rangers and sci- – and not for lack of trying.
entists rolled it onto a stretcher. As
a dozen people hoisted the stretcher The antelope is notoriously elusive,
into the belly of a second, larger hel- and also long enjoyed the cover of
icopter, the crowd pushed forward. the Lwimbi and Songo peoples, who
Some people tried to get one last often denied its existence to outsid-
glimpse, others hoped to hug or shake ers and deliberately misled trophy
hands with curly-haired biologist hunters attempting to bag a palanca
Pedro Vaz Pinto, who stood nearby, negra gigante (Portuguese for giant
looking a little dizzy with disbelief. sable), according to journalist John
Somehow, against enormous odds, Frederick Walker in his book A Cer-
he had just led a team in tracking, tain Curve of Horn. For locals, the

28 may 2022

creature was a totem,

the tip of its horns a por-

tal into the spirit world.

Walker describes it as

“almost heraldic in its

stateliness, more like a

proud beast from legend

than one of this earth.”

But even the giant sa-

ble wasn’t spared the

carnage of Angola’s bru-

tal 27-year civil war. In

the early 1970s, before

the conflict, an esti-

mated 2000 giant sables Biologist Pedro Vaz Pinto (left), pictured with
inhabited two of the wildlife veterinarian Pete Morkel, has spent two
country’s preserves, the
decades tracking the endangered giant sable

Luando Integral Nature

Reserve and Cangandala National develop the film, the biologist mailed

Park. By 2002, when the war finally each roll to his mother in Portugal.

PHOTOS (PREVIOUS SPREAD AND THIS PAGE): COURTESY OF PEDRO VAZ PINTO ended, no one knew if there were any One day, about a year into the effort,

left at all. she called with some promising news.

“Nobody could tell me for sure,” “She said, ‘There’s a lot of brown

says Vaz Pinto, who returned to his animals in this one’,” Vaz Pinto re-

native Angola from Portugal at war’s members with a chuckle. He asked

end. He had taken a job as an ecol- her to be more specific. “Brown,

ogist at Quiçama National Park, but kind of reddish?” she tried again. He

curiosity about the status of the sable had to wait an agonising week to get

gnawed at him. the pictures in the mail. When they

“For a biologist who likes adven- arrived, the biologist knew immedi-

ture, this was too much to ignore.” ately that he was looking at the first

Vaz Pinto decided to do some photograph of a giant sable in nearly

reconnaissance work. In 2004, he three decades.

strapped motion-activated cameras With evidence that the animal

to trees in Cangandala National Park endured, Vaz Pinto secured public

near termite mounds where giant sa- and private funding to establish the

bles – grazing herbivores – might visit Giant Sable Conservation Project. “I

to eat the sodium-rich dirt. Because thought it would be easy,” he says. “I

there was nowhere nearby for him to thought there would be more.”

readersdigest.com.au 29

READER’S DIGEST

Instead, subsequent photos always 44-square-kilometre enclosure in
showed the same nine animals, sug- Cangandala National Park. Mean-
gesting that the giant sable was just while, he would begin scouting for
barely holding on. More worrying- a bull in the nearby Luando Integral
ly, there didn’t appear to be a bull Nature Reserve, where giant sables
among the group. had historically roamed. If all went
according to plan, in the summer of
And something else about the pho- 2009, Vaz Pinto’s team would move
tos began bothering Vaz Pinto. “Some the nine females and one yet-to-be-
of the animals looked a bit funny,” found male via helicopter to the en-
he says. “They had floppy ears and closure at Cangandala.
clownish faces.”
“I thought the chance of us finding
He began tracking the herd on foot. a male was small,” says Pete Morkel,
When Vaz Pinto finally caught up the wildlife veterinarian Vaz Pinto re-
with them, what he saw confirmed cruited for the effort. “In fact, I told my
his worst fears. Standing in the mid- wife it was probably a waste of time.”
dle of a harem of females was a roan
bull, a completely different species With the help of area rangers, Vaz
of antelope. Left without a sable bull, Pinto began collecting and testing
the female giant sables were mating dung for evidence of giant sables in
with the roan and giving birth to hy- the Luando Reserve. One month be-
brids. Vaz Pinto knew that with only fore the group had scheduled their

“I THOUGHT THE CHANCE OF US FINDING
A MALE GIANT SABLE WAS SMALL”

a handful of pure sables left, hybridi- translocation mission, a sample came
sation would doom the animal to ex- back positive for giant sable DNA.
tinction in short order. “The sky fell
on my head,” he says. Vaz Pinto was thrilled that there
were still giant sables in the reserve,
If the tiny sable population in Can- but locating the animals wouldn’t be
gandala was going to survive, Vaz simple – it covers about 8200 square
Pinto wouldn’t just need to separate kilometres, the landscape a hypnotic
the pure females from the hybrids, collage of browns and tans.
he would also need to deliver them a
giant sable bull. And then, when he needed it, Vaz
Pinto had another one of those mag-
Vaz Pinto quickly devised an ical moments. On the first day of the
ambitious plan. He would recruit translocation mission, without any
all the help he could and build a other leads to go on, the group began

30 may 2022

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES Saving The Giant Sable

of several females and an
aggressive bull that joined
the enclosure, leading to
the death of another male
sable in 2011. Funding, Vaz
Pinto laments, has been a
constant struggle, especially
during the pandemic, when
longstanding corporate do-
nors withdrew support. And
Angola’s current economic
depression has driven more
people to poaching.

But for the most part, the
herd has thrived. Today Vaz
Pinto guesses there are more
than 100 sables living in Can-
gandala National Park. “It’s
The giant sable now has a fighting chance of survival been a spectacular success,”
he says, while acknowledg-
their aerial search for the sable where ing the species is still perilously en-
the dung had been collected. When dangered. Between the populations at
they arrived, a bull was standing in Cangandala and Luando, only about
that very spot, as if he knew they were 300 remain.
coming. Morkel tranquillised the For Vaz Pinto, who never meant to
animal from the air and the group devote two decades of his life to the
rushed to place a GPS collar on him. giant sable, his role in its survival is
A couple of weeks later, after the fe- both an honour and an obligation,
males had been moved to the enclo- but he admits he’s itching for a new
sure one by one, the group flew back adventure.
to Luando to collect the bull. Because “I want to stay linked to the giant sa-
the animal could be suspended by its ble forever,” Vaz Pinto says. “But in a
legs for only a short time, the crew way, I feel like a doctor in the ICU eager
stopped to transfer the sable to a larg- for the patient to be discharged – not
er aircraft, providing the locals time because I don’t love what I’m doing, but
for their impromptu farewell party. because it will mean the job is done and
In the years since, the captive popu- the patient can move on.”
lation has run into several challenges, FROM ATLAS OBSCURA (JUNE 8, 2021), © 2021
including the unexpected infertility BY ASHLEY STIMPSON

readersdigest.com.au 31

HEALTH

Get Your

BEST
SLEEP

Ever

32 may 2022

Your health depends on it.
Here’s the latest expert advice and

tips for a good night’s rest

BY Leah Rumack AND Mark Witten

PHOTOGRAPH BY VICKY LAM ILLUSTRATIONS BY JEFF KULAK

readersdigest.com.au 33

READER’S DIGEST STEP ONE

The bad news first: OPTIMISE
Australians are sleeping YOUR
less than they should. BEDROOM
Two in five of us don’t
get enough rest. Close to THE PILLOW THAT
60 per cent of Australian ADAPTS
adults show at least one A good pillow will give your
sleep disorder symptom. head, neck and shoulders the
Of those, 15 per cent of right support. Consider
have definite symptoms investing in an adjustable
of insomnia. Chronic pillow. Removable foam
stress and a more cubes let you customise the
sedentary lifestyle – both pillow to the perfect height
of which increased during and firmness for you.
the pandemic – are two
reasons for that. THE SOUNDS OF
SILENCE
If you don’t get enough sleep, the neg- A white-noise machine has
ative effects on your health can be always been a must-have to
profound. Once you reach your 50s, assist troubled sleepers, but
if you’re sleeping less than the rec- now you can also pump
ommended seven hours a night, your ambient sounds directly into
risk of developing dementia jumps your ears to drown out
by 30 per cent. That is, if you make it unwelcome noise. Try the
to that point. Inadequate sleep also Bose Sleepbuds II, which are
increases the risks of heart attack, surprisingly comfortable
stroke, hypertension, obesity, diabe- earbuds that allow you to
tes and other health issues. choose from a bunch of
instrumental tracks that are
On the flip side, a restorative sleep specifically designed to mask
is good medicine, a natural elixir that the low-frequency
far exceeds the benefits of any pill. disruptions – like snoring and
And getting enough keeps you men- noisy neighbours – that are
tally sharp during the day, better able the most common sleep
to deal with life’s stresses. disturbances.

The good news? We spoke to the
experts and did the research to help
you rest easier, starting tonight.

34 may 2022

1 Get Your Best Sleep Ever (PREVIOUS SPREAD) OFF-FIGURE STYLING BY DEE CONNOLLY; EMBROIDERY ON MASK BY BRIANNA KINNAIRD
2
THE BLANKET THAT
3 KEEPS YOU COSY
Over the last few years,
4 weighted blankets have
moved from a niche product
used mostly in therapeutic
settings to a standard
bedroom item. They’re
designed to feel like a nice,
firm hug. The pressure from
weighted blankets prepares
your body for rest by calming
your heart rate and breathing,
thus helping your body to
calm down enough to get the
sleep it needs so you can wake
up feeling refreshed,
according to Penn Medicine.

THE MATTRESS THAT’S
ALWAYS COOL
Waking up because you’re too
hot is a common complaint,
whether it’s due to the
weather, medication,
hormonal hot flushes or plain
old human biology. When we
sleep, our temperature drops
by a couple of degrees, and
we shed that heat into our
sleeping environment.
Cooling mattresses use
temperature-regulating
materials, such as gels and
memory foams, to draw heat
away from your body. This
means your body remains
cooler, which can improve
sleep quality.

readersdigest.com.au 35

STEP TWO

TROUBLESHOOT YOUR SLEEP ISSUE

We asked sleep expert Dr Ram Randhawa for some advice
on what to do about the most common problems.

YOU CAN’T GET TO SLEEP, STAY nine hours a night and are still feeling
ASLEEP OR WAKE UP TOO EARLY exhausted and irritable in the
These symptoms all fall under morning, Dr Randhawa says you
insomnia and are usually caused by should be assessed for sleep apnoea
stress, irregular sleep schedules or at a sleep-disorders clinic. This
excessive use of electronic devices in condition causes people to stop
the evening. Dr Randhawa suggests breathing and wake up for five to 15
three basic strategies: seconds multiple times an hour
through the night. Sleep apnoea is
1. Lower your arousal level before bed often treated with a CPAP
with relaxation techniques or soothing (continuous positive airway pressure)
rituals and routines, such as reading a machine, which helps you breathe by
book or listening to a meditation app. keeping the airway open while you
2. Re-establish the bedroom as a calm sleep. Shedding excess weight and
place to sleep by going to bed only avoiding alcohol before bed may also
when you’re sleepy and getting out of be effective for mild sleep apnoea.
bed when you can’t sleep. Keep
electronic devices out of the YOU SLEEP TOO LONG
bedroom. Oversleeping can be a symptom of
3. Although it may sound depression because the same brain
counterintuitive, spend less time in systems involved in causing mood
bed. Go to bed later, which increases disorders can also disrupt your
the pressure on your body to sleep, body’s regulation of sleep. And since
and then wake up earlier. You might regularly sleeping too much – more
get less sleep the first week, but than nine hours a night – is linked to
Dr Randhawa says this will settle down
and the quality of your sleep will health problems such as heart
improve. disease, type 2 diabetes and
obesity, Dr Randhawa
YOU DON’T FEEL suggests oversleepers
RESTED speak to their GP
If you’re sleeping about getting a
between seven and mental-health
assessment.

36 may 2022

Get Your Best Sleep Ever

TIME TO REFLECT
For starters, you can try writing down a
list of pressing problems and worries
before going to bed. Give yourself time
to reflect, process and work out next
steps or solutions. Then let those worries
go so you don’t ruminate into the night.

STEP THREE RELAXATION TECHNIQUES
Once you’ve thought things through,
LEARN HOW TO GET to bring down your blood pressure
REST WHEN STRESSED and heart rate, neurologist
Dr Andrew Lim recommends trying a
Worries about work, health and finances,
as well as stressful life events, such as job variety of relaxation techniques and
loss, divorce, major illness or the death of rituals. Meditation, yoga, abdominal
a loved one, are all common causes of breathing, soft music or taking a hot
insomnia. This happens because, even if bath can all help calm your nervous
your body is ready for rest, stress causes system and switch off the body’s 'fight
your brain to go on high alert. That, in or flight' response.
turn, triggers the release of hormones
like adrenaline and cortisol and increases THERAPY
your blood pressure and heart rate. If those strategies aren’t working,
cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) can
“It doesn’t matter how tired you are,” help with insomnia caused by stress. For
says Dr Randhawa. “If you are in a room this treatment, a therapist will help you
with a tiger, you won’t fall asleep.” recognise negative thoughts, feelings
and behaviours that are contributing to
Thankfully, the physiology of how insomnia, and, in six to eight sessions,
stress disrupts sleep points to effective, you’ll learn to reframe them in a way that
non-pharmaceutical antidotes. is conducive to sleep.

TRY TO NOT WORRY
Lastly, try not to add to your stress by
worrying about a lack of sleep.
“Paradoxically, sleep isn’t something
you can achieve with effort. The harder
you try to sleep, the more elusive it
becomes,” says Dr Randhawa. “The
best advice is to improve your stress
management and let your sleep
improve naturally.”

readersdigest.com.au 37

READER’S DIGEST

STEP FOUR your overall health. A 2019 Harvard
University study found that
GET ON THE RIGHT irregular bedtimes and
SLEEP SCHEDULE wake-up times, and
fluctuating amounts of sleep,
The time that we fall asleep and wake up increased the risks of obesity,
is regulated by something called a high cholesterol, high blood
circadian rhythm, or internal clock, pressure and high blood sugar,
that’s mainly set by visual cues of light among other health
and darkness. Circadian rhythms also problems. For each hour of
affect other biological processes, such sleep variability, these health
as body temperature, metabolism, risks rose by up to 27 per
appetite and hormone release – all of cent.
which adjust so that our bodies move It also helps to know
into sleep. whether you’re naturally an
early bird or a night owl –
The best sleep schedule is a consistent
one. If your natural sleep-wake rhythm tendencies called chronotypes.
gets thrown off by shift work, jet lag or Because chronotypes are genetically
bedtimes that are all over the map, this influenced, it can be hard for some
can seriously disrupt sleep and affect people to purposefully change them.
About five to 10 per cent of people are
true early birds, and 15 per cent are true
night owls, with most people falling into
the intermediate range of sleeping from
11pm to 7am.
Naps can be either helpful or
detrimental to sleep, depending on the
individual, duration and specific sleep
issue. If you don’t generally struggle
with sleep, a short nap of less than
30 minutes, not too late in the day, can
restore alertness without
compromising night time sleep.
“For people with insomnia, our
advice is usually not to nap,” says sleep
disorder expert Dr Najib Ayas,
explaining that it’ll reduce the healthy
pressure to sleep that builds up
throughout the day.

38 may 2022

Get Your Best Sleep Ever

PHOTOS: (PILLS) ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/EHSTOCK; (TEA) ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/SVETLANA_ANGELUS; STEP FIVE The calming effects of
(MASK) ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/SANTJE09; (LIGHT-THERAPY BOX) COURTESY OF VERILUX chamomile tea may be
TRY THESE due to an antioxidant
SLEEP AIDS called apigenin that
binds to brain receptors
Sleep meditation apps, like that may reduce anxiety
Calm or Headspace, offer and initiate sleep.
guided meditations and
breathing exercises to help Artificial light at night sends the wrong
you fall asleep. And a recent signal to your brain and disrupts sleep. A
study showed that they really Sleep Science study found that sleep masks
work if you stick with them – were an easy way to improve the quality of
people with insomnia who sleep for patients hospitalised in a brightly lit
used Calm for eight weeks coronary-care unit – so they’ll work for that
improved their sleep quality street lamp outside your window, too.
and reduced their daytime
sleepiness and fatigue.

Your body naturally produces A Sleep and
the sleep-inducing hormone Biological Rhythms
melatonin in response to study reported that
darkness. But since people insomniacs slept
can become melatonin better after sitting in
deficient, supplements may front of a light-therapy
help. There’s also emerging box for an hour each
evidence that magnesium morning. As long as the
can assist with sleep, as it device emits at least
relaxes the muscles and has 10,000 lux of light, it’ll
anti-anxiety properties. trigger your body to
release melatonin, the
sleepy-making hormone,
later that evening to settle
you into a night’s rest.

readersdigest.com.au 39

DRAMA IN REAL LIFE PHOTO: ERIKA LARSEN

A gruesome accident nearly killed Carter Viss.
Healing from the injuries would be tough;
forgiving the boat’s driver even tougher

SRPUENEBYDOBAVOEART

BY Gary Stephen Ross

40 may 2022

Carter Viss, near where
he was snorkelling on the

day of the accident

readersdigest.com.au 41

READER’S DIGEST

BENEATH THE OCEAN’S
SURFACE WAITS

A DIFFERENT WORLD

– quiet, shimmering with life. Cart- A severed limb was sinking to the
er Viss loved that world. It’s why he bottom – a human arm, the hand en-
decided to study marine biology at closed in a black diver’s glove. This
Palm Beach Atlantic University in can’t be happening, he thought. It was
Florida. It’s why he got a job at the too bizarre.
Loggerhead Marinelife Center on
Florida’s east coast. And it’s why he Inhaling blood and seawater, Carter
spent so much free time snorkelling realised he would drown if he didn’t
in the reefs at Palm Beach. swim. But his right arm was gone, and
both his legs were smashed, dangling
This particular Thursday morn- beneath him. His remaining hand was
ing – November 28, 2019 – was a damaged. Screaming for his life, he
Thanksgiving holiday, and tourists slipped beneath the surface.
and locals were visiting the beaches.
The water was flat, the sky blue, and Andy Earl heard his friend’s mor-
the underwater visibility spectac- tal terror. So did Christine Raininger,
ular. Carter, 25, and his 32-year-old who was sitting on a paddleboard
colleague, Andy Earl, spent a couple nearby and had yelled at the boat
of hours among the sharks, eels, tur- to slow down. They reached Carter
tles, octopus and angelfish. Finally, at about the same time. While Andy
around noon, they headed for shore. kept Carter’s face out of the water,
Christine squeezed his upper arm to
Outboard motors have an un- stem the blood flow, then fashioned
mistakable sound when divers are a tourniquet from the cord on her
underwater. But swimming on the paddleboard.
surface, Carter didn’t hear the pow-
erboat until it was almost on top of Meanwhile, the 11-metre speed-
him. When he saw it, he knew he had boat, named Talley Girl, was revers-
just an instant. He pulled desperately ing urgently. It was powered by three
to one side, getting his head and up- 400-horsepower outboard engines
per torso out of the boat’s path before with five-blade propellers. On board
it ran him over. were retired Goldman Sachs execu-
tive Daniel Stanton, his 30-year-old
He braced and tumbled. The sea- son, Daniel Jr, his son-in-law and two
water around him turned crimson. grandchildren. Daniel Jr was at the

42 may 2022

Run Over By A Speedboat

wheel. Horrified, in shock, he helped But the worst day of Carter’s life was
Earl and Raininger load Carter onto not without things to be thankful for:
the boat’s stern. Earl and Raininger being so close;
the speedboat reversing so quickly;
I’m not going to make it, Carter the first responders wading into the
thought, pain searing through the ocean to meet Talley Girl. At St Mary’s
adrenalin. No way I’m gonna make it. Medical Center, the 12-person criti-
cal-care team received Carter in the
Earl, too, feared his friend could trauma bay barely 20 minutes after
not survive such wounds. “God is the boat struck.
with us,” he reassured Viss, over and
over, holding his hand as Talley Girl Dr Robert Borrego, a critical-care
made for shore. surgeon and the medical director of
trauma at St Mary’s, was in the mid-
Carter felt his fear and panic melt dle of his shift. The son of a Cuban
away. In its place came total surren- fisherman, Dr Borrego had come to
der, a kind of blissful acceptance. the US at age nine. Thirty years at St

Dying felt like diving down into
another beautifully peaceful realm.

After striking Carter Viss, the driver of the Talley Girl delivered him to the beach

PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE PALM BEACH POLICE DEPARTMENT

readersdigest.com.au 43

READER’S DIGEST

Mary’s and a stint at a field hospital their slow process of repair. Fractures

in Iraq had acclimatised him to deal- in the left hand and wrist were also

ing with trauma. Many soldiers he’d set and soft-tissue damage repaired.

worked on had been devastated by Three-and-a-half hours later, infused

explosive devices. with saline and eight units each of

Dr Borrego did a quick assessment. red blood cells, plasma and platelets,

Major open wounds in the ocean are Carter was moved to the intensive

doubly perilous because the victim’s care unit (ICU).

bleeding is not slowed by clotting, The next 48 to 72 hours would be

and infection is very likely. Carter critical. The human body can only

had lost at least 40 per cent of his fight so many battles at once before

blood volume and was on the verge of shutting down. All anyone could do

multi-organ failure. now was wait, and
His arm had been re- CARTER HAD LOST hope, and see if he’d
trieved by a diver, but A LOT OF BLOOD pull through.
there was no hope of AND WAS VERGING In Centennial, a
reattaching it.
ON MULTIPLE town outside Denver,
Dr Borrego not- Chuck and Leila Viss

ed the damaged left ORGAN FAILURE were taking a chilly,
hand and wrist. The snowy walk when Lei-

right knee was dis- la’s phone rang. The

located, the kneecap was nearly sev- display showed a Florida number; she

ered, and the femur was fractured. assumed it was a telemarketer.

The lower left leg and ankle were Back in the car, heading home

smashed, and the left foot was turn- to start dinner, she saw there were

ing blue. two voicemail messages. She put the

It was a miracle Carter was alive, phone on speaker so Chuck could

but every moment counted. One listen too. It was a police officer in

option was to amputate both legs, Palm Beach. As the mother of three

which would lower the infection risk. active boys – Carter was her mid-

But because Carter was young and dle son – Leila wondered, what had

otherwise healthy, Dr Borrego and Carter done?

his team decided to try to save them. “Boating accident ... lost one arm ...

Three surgeons and two residents trying to save his legs.”

got to work. First came amputation Panicked, weeping, they pulled

of the mangled arm. Next, each leg into a car park. “We took turns losing

was reset and encased in a fixator, it and comforting each other,” said

a sort of exoskeleton that maintains Leila. The day became a desperate,

proper alignment as the bones begin blurry scramble – cancelling dinner,

44 may 2022

Run Over By A Speedboat

urgent calls, sobbing helplessly, try- excised, a titanium rod inserted in

ing to book flights on a public holiday. his shattered tibia, and hardware in-

Chuck’s persistence paid off when he stalled in his left wrist and right knee.

found two seats out of Denver that Leila, a piano teacher, needed to

evening, with a layover in Boston. be back home, but Chuck could work

If there’s such a place as purgato- remotely, so he stayed on.

ry, it just might resemble Boston’s One morning, after Carter had had

Logan Airport at 4am when you’re his tubes removed, Dr Borrego told

so emotionally spent that you’ve him the battle was 90 per cent won.

run out of tears, unsure whether I’ve got a long road ahead of me, Cart-

your son would be alive when you er thought, but I’m going to make it.

reached him. And daring to con- He decided he would use his spared

template wheth- ONE MORNING, life to educate others
er, if he ended up DR BORREGO about ocean safety
with just one limb, TOLD CARTER THAT and conservation.
it might be better THE BATTLE WAS Heading into yet an-
if he passed away – 90 PER CENT WON other surgery, he told
this young man who his parents, “I can
lived to snorkel and make a bigger differ-
fish and play guitar ence now than I ever

and piano. could before.”

Frayed and exhausted, the Visses Over the 68 days Carter spent in

reached the hospital around 10am. hospital, his recovery felt agonis-

The sight of their son in the ICU, swol- ingly slow. Actually, says Dr Borre-

len and bandaged, right arm missing, go, it was remarkably fast. His par-

and tubes down his throat, was over- ents noted each milestone. The first

whelming. They had to be helped out day Carter sat up. Being moved out

to compose themselves. of ICU. The first time, after surgery

So began their vigil. The Visses took on the nerves in his right knee, he

turns by his bedside, where Carter was wiggled his toes. The first time he

on a ventilator. He was tormented by sat in a wheelchair. Then, standing

hallucinations – ‘ICU psychosis’, doc- unaided and, a few days after that,

tors call it. He knew his family was taking his first shaky, painful steps.

there, tearful and comforting, but so But another battle had just begun.

were strange, gruesome creatures that Heavy doses of morphine, oxycodone

were crawling all over him. and fentanyl had eased his pain. Dr

“Get them off me,” he begged. Borrego explained to the Visses that

Carter didn’t know he’d had four a successful outcome depended on

operations. Infected flesh had been him getting off opioids: “I’ve seen

readersdigest.com.au 45

READER’S DIGEST

Carter with his mother, Leila, and during his rehabilitation

many lives ruined when patients emotional legacy is less obvious. “I PHOTOS: COURTESY OF THE VISS FAMILY
can’t break free.” try not to remember how real the acci-
dent was, the panic and horror,” Carter
Carter understood the gravity of the says. “It feels more like a dream, or a
issue. He gradually reduced his doses, nightmare. And I try not to think of
and then tore off his fentanyl patch. what I can’t do and focus on ways to
Withdrawal made for a harrowing few work around things.”
days, but Carter, as Dr Borrego puts it,
“has incredible mental strength.” An investigation found that Talley
Girl had been going at least 80 kilo-
In June 2020, Carter returned to metres per hour when it struck Cart-
work. His duties include helping re- er, despite the red-and-white ‘diver
habilitate loggerhead sea turtles that down’ marker on the water. In Sep-
have been injured in boat strikes. tember 2020, Daniel Stanton Jr was
charged with wilful and reckless
Today he can bend his right knee operation of a vessel, punishable by
only 90 degrees. He’s been fitted up to a year in gaol.
with a prosthetic arm but finds it
cumbersome. But all in all, says “Carter insisted he did not want
Dr Borrego, his recovery has been Stanton to face incarceration,”
almost miraculous. says Chuck Viss. “He said, ‘I’d

Physical healing is one thing. The

46 may 2022

Run Over By A Speedboat

rather have him working with me went to Stanton Jr and shook his hand.

on ocean safety than sitting in a Tears flowed and the wall of silence

gaol cell.’” between the families came down. As

The court hearing two months lat- the two men embraced, Carter said

er marked the first time Carter and quietly, “Let’s make a difference.”

Stanton Jr had seen each other since One of their ideas is a better ‘diver

the day their lives changed. Leila down’ marker. The current design is a

and Chuck were there, PHYSICAL red flag with a diagonal
as was Stanton’s moth- HEALING IS white stripe. Depending
er. Stanton Sr attended ONE THING. on wind direction how-
via Zoom. The families BUT THE ever, a boater may not
avoided eye contact. EMOTIONAL see it. Carter favours a
LEGACY IS LESS bigger, three-dimen-
Carter read a vic- OBVIOUS sional buoy, visible in
tim-impact statement any weather, with re-
and then Daniel Stanton flective strips. In addi-
Jr addressed him direct- tion, Carter wants strict
ly. Carter knew that the speed enforcement.
remorse was genuine

and profound. “There Has the legal resolu-

was no doubt how he felt,” Chuck tion led to forgiveness? “Forgiveness

agreed. “You could see the pain in his comes from the heart,” says Carter.

eyes.” “I feel like I’m going in the right di-

Stanton Jr was sentenced to rection. If I were him and had to live

75 hours of community service, one w i t h t h e g u i l t a n d r e m o r s e ,

year of probation, a US$1000 fine, I’d almost prefer to be in my shoes.

and a mandate to work with Carter It’s a complex thing emotionally, but

on legislation to enhance ocean safety if I can ease someone else’s pain,

and conservation. Afterwards, Carter I will.”

Smarter Than Your Average Bird

Wanting to learn more about the social dynamics of the highly
intelligent Australian magpie, scientists recently tagged five with
a small harness tracker. What the academics didn’t expect was to
discover altruistic and problem-solving behaviour. Within minutes
of the trackers being fitted, one magpie was walking around without
it. Within hours, the group of birds had successfully cooperated to

remove all the trackers by pulling and pecking at them.

THECONVERSATION.COM/AU

readersdigest.com.au 47

READER’S DIGEST

LIFE’S LIKE THAT

Seeing The Funny Side

Blow-Out

My mother is seven years
older than my father, and
he never lets her forget it.

It was her birthday
recently and he put just
one candle on her cake.

She seemed puzzled, and
he told her, “Well, I didn’t
want to put a strain on
your lungs.”

SUBMITTED BY JOANNE

AITCHISON

“Sorry, that spot is reserved.” Downing Tools CARTOON: CARTOON BY GUTO DIAS. ILLUSTRATIONS: GETTY IMAGES

Fateful Name A few years ago, my
father-in-law set about
My son and I were walking in the a task in the kitchen
cemetery when we came upon an that his wife required
ornate mausoleum. New to reading to be undertaken. He placed the
and interested in words, my son necessary tools and equipment
pointed to the name carved at the on the worktop in readiness for
top and asked, “What does that the work and then briefly left
say?” the kitchen. On his return, the
worktop was clear of his careful
I told him the family name: preparations. He enquired as to
“Eaton.” their whereabouts, upon which my
mother-in-law said she had tidied
Now horrified, he responded, them away as he had left them
“By what?” lying around, cluttering up the
kitchen!
SUBMITTED BY AUDREY MALDONADO
SUBMITTED BY ALLAN BRIDGER

48 may 2022