“On Friday we thought we’d lost him, but he’s looking a lot better now,” Blake Henricks told radioinfo this morning, Monday, October 13th. Blake, 26, is Greg Henricks only son who also happens to work for Macquarie, not in radio, but for the bank as a fund manager in Sydney.
Blake says that his father has, “a terrific doctor who’s very experienced.”
But on Friday, the surgery for oesophageal cancer was halted when a complication occurred as a result of fluid from the oesophagus leaking into a tube being used to ventilate Greg’s lungs.
If these guys were cowboys,” said Blake, “they might have pushed on with the operation regardless. But they did the right thing and stopped.”
Nonetheless, on Friday night, a doctor that the family had not seen before came into the waiting room and told them that the outlook was not good.
“At that point we lost it,” says Blake. “I was there with my mum Sue and Dad’s sister, Vicky. The doctor told us we may as well go home and they’ll ring us if anything happens. All I could think about was what would I do when the phone rang. But it didn’t.
“By Saturday morning he’d come off the 100% oxygen down to about 75%. Today he’s on 55%,”
The drop in the oxygen level that’s needed to be pumped into him is significant because it means his lungs are getting stronger.
“Normally the air that we breathe contains about 21% oxygen. When he is able to breathe without a respirator, they’ll get him out of his coma. We expect he’ll probably be asleep for another week,” says Blake.
Greg who is one of the most popular and respected people you’ll ever meet in this industry is currently news director for The Macquarie Southern Cross Radio Network, based on the Gold Coast.
On Saturday night, long time friend, 2UE newsreader, Steve Blanda was subdued after winning his 13th radio award for best News Presenter, telling radioinfo that knowing that Greg was in a critical condition in a nearby hospital had taken the gloss off the occasion.
Normally fierce rivals at Hot Tomato were also saddened by the news and wish Greg a speedy recovery.
Blake said that the family was deeply moved and appreciative of the hundreds of messages of support that they had received for his father. “Dad will wake up next week thinking its still last Friday and will be blown away when he sees how many people care about him,” he said.
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