RDAU_10-11_Oct_Nov Issue

S itting at their new kitchen table within their retirement community, Geoff and Denise admit Adelaide wasn’t the plan for their current stage of life. Sure, they had intentions of downsizing from the 260-acre property they’d loved for more than 30 years at the foot of the MacDonnell Ranges outside of Alice Springs – but suburbia isn’t what they had in mind. “We were going to get a motorhome, and we were going to drive around, probably do a lot of country towns, stay there for six months and live in a community, to see if we like it, and if the people like us, and then buy a house,” Geoff explained. They did find a community - one that has led to what they know will be lifelong friendships, one that fills their faces with joy and comfort, and brings a subtle hint of overwhelm to their eyes when they speak about it. It’s not the community they went looking for, but it’s the one that was there for them when they were at their most vulnerable following an unexpected blood cancer diagnosis for Geoff. A visit to the GP lead to head-to- toe scans. One by one, various afflictions were ruled out and a keen-eyed specialist turned to them and said, “Geoff, I don’t like the look of your bloods”. From there it was a trip to Darwin for a bone marrow biopsy and confirmation of a blood cancer diagnosis, and the best course of treatment was in Adelaide. “You become numb,” Denise recalls. “You get a shock from diagnosis. Everything kind of hits you, coming from different directions. You have this whopping life change, this diagnosis, and that The Village People INSPIRATIONAL They say it takes a village to raise a child but as Geoff and Denise Purdie discovered, it’s just as applicable when you’re facing the unknown of a blood cancer diagnosis and upending your lives to move 1,500km. reader ’ s digest 44   OctOber/NOvember 2026