Zac Lomax prepared for boos from Dragons fans as he returns to Wollongong in Eels colours
Parramatta star Zac Lomax knows exactly what to expect as he prepares for a return to Wollongong this weekend. He also knows that the result is far more important than silencing any of the jeers that come his way.
'Oh, what do you think,' Lomax said when asked whether he expected to be booed by Dragons fans.
'That's footy. I'm not the only person that's been in this situation. I'm sure it will be weird. I'm sure I won't get a real nice reception there, but that's the way that it goes.
'They're all my good mates down there and they'll be some of my best mates forever you know.
'We have a job to do. I want to go down there and put in a good performance. It's going to be a good test for us.'
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Lomax left the Dragons at the end of last season in a blaze of controversy and he had a game to remember when he played against his former club earlier this year.
On that occasion, Lomax stepped up and nailed a field goal in golden point to give the Eels a win over St George Illawarra.
That game was at CommBank Stadium, where Lomax has quickly become a fan favourite. He was once feted by Dragons fans as well at WIN Stadium but a move to the Eels changed that and there seems little doubt he will be in the eye of the storm on Saturday night.
Asked whether it would be emotional given it will mark the first time he has played at WIN Stadium in anything other than a Dragons jersey, Lomax said: 'To be fair, I don't even know. They're in a very similar boat to us where they have to win.
'You completely try to take the emotion out of it because the emotion can affect your game I guess positively and negatively.'
The Eels will arrive in Wollongong with their spirits lifted after a big win over the Gold Coast, a result that gave them a buffer over the Titans at the foot of the ladder.
Lomax kicked six goals from as many attempts against the Titans, exorcising the demons from the second State of Origin game in Perth when his goal-kicking radar was awry.
Asked whether he felt any responsibility for the Blues defeat, Lomax replied: 'Oh man, it's easy to look at it that way because it's two points.
'For me I pride myself on being a good goalkicker as well. So for me, it was not ideal. We're in situations like that, that's, that's Origin.
'The thing is I probably couldn't have struck them any better, they just stayed out. That's the way that footy goes.'
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The big question is whether Valdas will survive another few hours. "His power and strength were dramatically decreasing," Arvydas says. 'Like stepping off a cliff' It's mid-morning when the new doctor, Jorian 'Jo' Kippax, himself an experienced white-water kayaker, is winched into the scene. He feels overwhelmed as he hears the loud roar of the river, and takes in the faces of the people who have worked all night on a precarious rock platform. The doctor also agonises over the decision to amputate, but everyone agrees Valdas is running out of time. "The inevitable consequence of him staying there was death, and that was going to be quite soon," he says. The doctor lowers himself down beside Valdas. Dr Jo Kippax prepares for the amputation. ( Supplied ) Immediately he feels the pull of the water, wanting to suck him under. He wedges himself in an awkward spread-eagled position, and takes a breath. "There was a moment, a real sense of, I really, really don't want to do this." Once he starts, there is no going back. "It was like stepping off a cliff. All of a sudden from that point, you were in freefall and the only endpoint is an amputated leg," paramedic Rohan says. The moment the saw snaps With general anaesthesia not being possible, Valdas is knocked out with ketamine. Jo can't see the leg, so he opts to do the surgery with bare hands, so he can feel what he's doing. The velcro tourniquets don't work under water, but he improvises using ratchet straps. Then he starts the procedure. He cuts away the muscles of the thigh, "leaving the tremendously strong femur". "We are trained to saw through this using a Gigli saw — a fine wire which has got sharp serrations on it," he says. "It's very light, which is why we favour it. But it's also pretty delicate. "And in this case, it broke." Jo's heart drops. Fortunately he manages to break through the rest of the femur. Within seconds Valdas is free. Jo helped Valdas onto the stretcher, where he was put on a mechanical CPR machine. ( Supplied ) "Suddenly, he came backwards into my arms. I was waiting for a gush of blood, but there wasn't," he says. "The entire procedure, although it felt a long time to me, only took about two minutes." Crews haul Valdas out of the water and up a rock face. As Arvydas watches, he is devastated. "The colour of his skin, and the body … my diagnosis was Valdas is dead," he says. He returns to his camp and is silent for several minutes. He only tells his friends to pray for Valdas. The second stage of the rescue Everyone is aware that the amputation doesn't guarantee Valdas's survival. After 24 hours in the water, there is an "extremely high chance" of hypothermic cardiac arrest. Initially Valdas responds well, but then he starts to crash. He stops breathing, so the paramedics put him on a ventilator. Then his heart stops beating. "There's a little part of you that thinks that we killed him as his rescuers," Rohan says. Arvydas notices that no one makes eye contact with him. He asks the rescue crew if Valdas is dead. Arvydas Rudokas was one of the Lithuanian rafters on the trip. ( Australian Story: Tom Hancock ) "I couldn't say yes, but I definitely couldn't say no," Rohan says. Valdas is hooked up to a mechanical CPR machine before he is winched up to the chopper. By the time he arrives at hospital in Hobart, the machine has been keeping his heart beating for 90 minutes. "If your heart stops beating on the side of the Franklin River," Rohan says, "Except that Valdas died of a hypothermic cardiac arrest, and it's one of the really unique ways where you actually have a chance." Because hypothermia slows the body's systems down so much, Jo says, humans can survive "quite long periods of not breathing or very little heart activity". Six rescuers were on the ground with Valdas. ( Supplied ) The last hymn you hear before heaven or hell A paramedic has called ahead to alert the hospital that Valdas urgently needs to go on a heart-lung bypass machine, called ECMO, if he is to survive. The ECMO machine warms and oxygenates his blood outside his body and then pumps it back in, until they can restart his heart. Valdas stays on the machine in a coma for four days. As he wakes, he hears a hymn playing over and over in his head. "The last hymn you hear before ending up in heaven, or in hell," he says. "After the hymn I open my eyes and see white — a white ceiling above. I was waking up in the ICU ward." Valdas regained consciousness in hospital. ( Supplied ) While doctors, nurses and paramedics are overjoyed, there is concern he has suffered brain damage from the accident. Jurgita Rakauskaite-Stanwix, a member of the Hobart Lithuanian community, comes in to help with translation. She holds his hand and translates for doctors as they undertake tests to assess his neurological state. On the second day, Valdas surprises everyone when he speaks in English. "He said, 'I'm survivor!'" Jurgita says. "I was in tears. Nurses were in tears. It's just such a beautiful moment. And he is. He is a survivor." Before long, Valdas meets the man who amputated his leg in the wilderness. Valdas meets his rescuers in hospital. ( Supplied ) Jo also works as a trauma specialist, and becomes Valdas's treating doctor. "I felt like I had to apologise. And he too was quite emotional," the doctor says. "We both looked at his leg, and looked at each other, and said, 'I'm sorry, this is the way it is.'" Valdas knows the amputation was the right call. "Otherwise I would still be stuck there to this day. I would have two legs, but I would still be over there," he says. 'Life is a beautiful thing' In late January, Valdas returned home to Lithuania's capital Vilnius. His sister Rasa is helping in his recovery. "This accident has given me the understanding that in life, everything is possible. Every challenge can be overcome," she says. When Australian Story visited Valdas in May, he was walking on crutches. Now, he's learning to walk again with a prosthesis. Australian Story met Valdas in Lithuania. ( Australian Story: Tom Hancock ) "I survived. I endured. That's the greatest joy," he says. "As for the leg, that's not a problem. "The main thing is being alive and life is a beautiful thing." Arvydas says his friend was a legend with two legs, and is now a "double legend". "It doesn't matter. Broken leg. Cut leg. But alive," he says. A lot went wrong for Valdas, but a lot went his way, too. His thick wetsuit kept him warm. He was wearing a life jacket — without it, Ace believes he "probably would have got sucked under the rock". If it had rained even a few millimetres, the river could have risen and drowned him. The marathon rescue involved two helicopters, 500 kilograms of gear and a record-breaking 57 winches. And, communication problems which dogged the rescuers were helped when an AMSA jet was flown overhead later in the rescue to provide critical radio communications. Valdas is grateful for those who saved his life. "The Australian people were fantastic. It brings tears to my eyes when I remember their care," he says. "If it had happened in a place other than Australia, heaven knows what would have happened to me." Valdas and his friends in Lithuania. ( Australian Story: Tom Hancock ) A vow to finish what he started Valdas now has the "crazy idea" to return to the Franklin River in 2026 and finish the journey that changed his life forever. "Because that incident interrupted our expedition, the Franklin River venture remained unfinished," he says. "I don't know whether anyone has ever gone rafting with a prosthesis." Arvydas would be at his side — and their rafting party may include a new member. Jo has formed a strong bond with Valdas. "Valdas is a tremendously strong, independent, accomplished person," he says. "This idea that Valdas might want to come back and do the Franklin doesn't surprise me one little bit. "And I'd love to do that trip with him." Watch Australian Story's 'The River' part 1, 8:00pm Monday June 23, on ABCTV and ABC iview . 'The River' part 2, on Monday July 7. Credits:
