Surrounded by the smell of burning rubber and the loud, heart-racing hum of F1 race cars, Rocky Pirrottina watched his team take victory in Melbourne in March.
Rocky is an avid fan of Formula 1, spending every weekend watching it on TV. He had dreamt of seeing the event live, and wasn’t about to let his battle with MND stop him.
With an absolute passion for the sport, he worked with his MND advisor Vicki to ensure that this goal was added to his plan, and with some assistance was able to travel to Melbourne this year to see the F1 Grand Prix with his family – his wife Linda, and children Sam and Sally – and his support worker Jasmin.
While Rocky had a couple of hiccups – including his accommodation cancelling on him last minute sparking a frantic search for another hotel, and some difficulty finding accessible transportation – they all had a great drive down to Melbourne, and were able to settle into the 4 Points by Sheraton in Docklands, close to all the F1 action.
After arriving at the event via wheelchair- accessible taxi, Rocky said the organisers treated them ‘like royalty’, and made them feel ‘very special’.
Rocky spent two days at the event, watching the qualifiers on Saturday and the main event on Sunday, all the while keeping a close eye on his favourite team – Ferrari. He couldn’t have hoped for a better result on race day - he was able to see Carlos Sainz take victory for Ferrari, with Charles Leclerc coming in second to make it a one-two finish for the team.
As for his next goal, his MND Advisor Vicki said Rocky is still working on that before his next review...Although he did ask if he can travel via plane so who knows where he will jet off to!