By Alesha Capone
An online fundraising campaign has raised more than $6500 for Wyndham Vale’s Michael Martin, who had to give up his job as a train driver after being diagnosed with epilepsy.
Mr Martin said he had worked as a train driver with Metro for 13 years until August this year.
“I thoroughly enjoyed the job,” he said.
“For my part, although you could say you were out on your own for a lot of the work, you were part of a much larger team of people.
“For the most part, I just loved being there.”
Mr Martin was diagnosed with epilepsy earlier this year after having a benign tumour removed in February.
Mr Martin said that under federal legislation, being diagnosed with epilepsy means he is not allowed to hold a driver’s licence, even for a forklift.
Although he may be able to regain his licence in the future, if medication can keep his epilepsy seizures under control, VicRoads assesses this on a case-by-case basis.
Mr Martin said although he is looking for work at present – possibly in an office, as he worked in IT for nine years before becoming a train driver – a number of fields are closed to him, at least for now, due to his epilepsy.
Mr Martin last month started the GoFundMe campaign to help with living and medical expenses, including the purchase of a fall detection device, which has been recommended to him by an epilepsy support group.
Mr Martin said the device, which is similar to a watch, will let emergency services know if he has a fall and remains unresponsive for a certain amount of time.
So far, 49 donors have contributed $6501 to help Mr Martin, who has also made a YouTube video about his diagnosis.
Mr Martin said he would like to thank everyone who had donated.
“I genuinely do appreciate it, I really do,” he said.
“I understand that I am in the same situation as so many other people right now – unfortunately, life’s costs don’t just stop.”
Details: www.gofundme.com/f/permanently-unfit-for-duty.
