Nebo stud cattle grazier Greg Barr has always been a glass half-full kind of man.
It's this positive attitude, this unwillingness to break when all the signs are disheartening, that he credits in part to a remarkable recovery, where he brought himself back from the brink of death.
The 66-year-old had always looked after himself; he ate clean, didn't smoke, and kept physically active - but when his eyes and skin began to yellow with jaundice in November 2019, he knew something was awry.
Although even then, he still didn't realise just how dire his circumstances were.
After a visit to his GP in Mackay, scans revealed a tumour was blocking up the bile duct between his liver and pancreas.
He had Pancreatic Cancer.
"The next day, I came back into Mackay and they diagnosed me with a 4cm tumour on the head of my pancreas," Mr Barr said.
His GP jumped into action, referring him to a top surgeon, Dr Ian Martin, at Brisbane's Wesley Hospital.
"(Dr Martin) said 'have him here by 8am'. I flew straight down the next morning," he said.
"The afternoon I was diagnosed, I spent the night in the (Mackay) airport motel because I was too crook to drive home. I had to ring Debbie and tell her over the phone...(but) I slept all through the night. I didn't lose any sleep.
"I don't regard myself as a terribly brave person, but I never lost a night's sleep over it until the first scan and blood test. I had to wait two days for the result."
Mr Barr spent six days at Wesley Hospital.
"They opened the bile duct, took biopsies, and checked the rest of me out for more tumours," he said.
"Then they set me on a course of six months of chemotherapy before the operation to try and reduce the size of the tumour."
However, when COVID began to stretch across the globe and Mr Barr was three months into chemotherapy, Dr Martin began to worry that the pandemic might stifle access to surgery in coming months.
"He got me to stop chemo...and he operated on me (using the Wipples procedure) on (April 30 2020)," Mr Barr said.
"When I left the hospital in Brisbane...they had cut all the cancer out, but (Dr Martin) said 'look, you've only got a three per cent chance of making it past five years'.
"I said 'righto, what do I have to do to get by in the three per cent?'. He said 'an attitude like that is a good start'."
Mr Barr was determined. Focusing on the three per cent instead of the 97, he gave himself every chance of survival, despite the odds.
"When I got back to Nebo, I got into the Icon (Cancer Centre in Mackay)...I started chemotherapy there for four months and I got a staph infection. I had to go through six weeks of heavy antibiotics," he said.
"I was 90kg before the operation and I walked out 63kg...I was pretty crook.
"After they finished the chemotherapy, three months later I got a scan and blood test, and everything was clear and the cancer markets were very low in my blood, which was great.
"My oncologist told me I still had only 12 months to live...and to make sure I had everything in order. I said 'no offence, but have a good look at my face. I'm going to be around much longer'. I reminded him of that again after two years, and after three years. I'm now three-and-a-half years cancer free."
In May 2023, Mr Barr's positive attitude had won out - he was cancer free.
"I refused to accept I was going to die. I said to my wife Deb, 'I'm not going to die'," he said.
"I had started to do things at home with the cattle; improvements. Debbie said 'what are you doing this for?' I said 'I'm going to live'.
"I just thought 'it's great for other people around you. If you're positive, they're positive too'.
"A friend of mine...she sells health oils and that sort of stuff...she sat me down and said 'in your body, your body's defence system, if you're positive, you're keeping up with exercise, it's going to help your body fight anything that's going on'. I think she's right."
The future is looking bright for the grazier, who has owned his 800-acre Nebo property, Lazy B Charolais and Charbray, for 20 years, alongside his Lazy B Transport business.
After making the move from Hughenden, he settled into coal mining life, which funded his passion for cattle breeding.
"We breed Charolais and Charbray cattle. We're selling bulls. We're a small stud. I stopped selling bulls when I got crook," he said.
"I said to Deb, 'I'm going to get back into it...I want to go on. We put so much money into it, it'd be a shame to let it slide'. I was planning to live.
"We sold 32 weaners at Nebo about six weeks ago, and 10 cattle went to the meat works...we run about 50."
Tests from a fortnight ago revealed Mr Barr's blood cancer markers are still down and are currently sitting at 11.
"My oncologist can't believe it. Ten is the minimum," he said.
"I know I'm very lucky. It's changed me a bit. It adjusted my way of doing things.
"My favourite saying used to be 'never put off until tomorrow what you can put off to the next day'. Now it has to be done today."
His remarkable journey has spurred Mr Barr to raise funds for The Australian Pancreatic Cancer Foundation, PanKind, including $1600 from $2 "blow in the bag" breathalysers for motorists after the Nebo Rodeo.
A joint effort between Nebo Cutting Club and Triangle Horse Sale at a cutting show in August saw an additional $2400 raised towards Mr Barr's goal of $10,000.
"Even as soon as three to four years ago, being diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer was basically a death sentence," Mr Barr said.
But thanks to research and trials by the Pancreas Cancer Foundation of Australia, the survival rate has risen to 10-12 per cent.
"Positive news and great results from a very underfunded organisation," he said.
To help Mr Barr reach his goal, visit https://pankind-fundraising/raisely.com/greg-barr.
