11/06/2026
Massive thanks to everyone who helped my page reach 400,000 followers this morning! It means a lot to have the viewers and support from all around the globe, and a big personal achievement I didn’t think could happen…more details below. 😬
I started the Australian Truck Action page (and YouTube channel) just over 3 years ago, in May 2023.
Some of you I know personally may be aware that I have a medical condition called gastroparesis, which means my stomach is paralysed. Therefore, I haven’t been able to eat or drink anything whatsoever since October 2010; instead, I receive liquid nutrition overnight via a pump and feeding tube inserted into my intestinal tract.
In April 2023, I had a severe complication, with part of my bowel twisting and dying, requiring emergency surgery before it perforated. After around 7 torturous weeks in hospital, recovering from surgery and learning how to walk again properly, I was able to come home.
My amazing wife took the first photo of me at home in early June 2023, at a time where I was both physically and mentally just clinging on to the will to live, weighing just 46kg, and almost completely bedridden with crippling fatigue and severe nausea, just trying to hang on for better days ahead, even though so many times, I wanted to give up.
I’d taken a lot of truck videos earlier in the year, so my earlier spotting episodes were posted with me in this horrible condition lying in bed, desperately trying to distract myself from how I felt, with posting the videos and getting views and followers/subscribers giving me something to look forward to, and hopefully build into something I could earn some amount of income from.
As I slowly recovered from this critically low point, I got to the stage where I was able to get back out filming trucks again at Port Adelaide. Brief, in pain, and shaky at first, I was gradually able to put on some weight, get out more often, and help recover strength in my leg muscles, with filming the truck spotting videos being a significant factor in my recovery from the brink.
In November 2023, I ended up in the ICU for a few days with a case of sepsis pneumonia, pushing my energy and recovery time back down. However, again, getting back out and filming trucks was an important part of recovering from that additional ordeal.
3 years on, with a higher calorie feed, and the exercise increasing muscle mass from walking around filming trucks, I’m now at 76kg, and have managed to film over 800 truck spotting episodes, another milestone I never would have thought possible when the page began.
While I still often suffer from debilitating nausea and fatigue, getting out filming trucks around Adelaide in the mornings, and doing the odd outback trip, continue to be a significant factor in my overall physical and mental wellbeing, and something that helps financially as well.
Getting my page to this point from where I was at the start is something I’m incredibly grateful for, and I can’t express enough thanks to all the truck enthusiasts who also love watching all sorts of trucks in action.
Again, many thanks to everyone for your life-saving support, and hopefully I’ll be able to keep on truckin’!
(I would also like to thank all the truck drivers I’ve met along the way for the chats, laughs, trucker hats and beanies, with some good friends made in the community, as well as the camaraderie of fellow truck spotters and enthusiasts! 🙂)
Cheers Rohan
