Adrian Barich: the Barra Award for 2024’s most inspiring moment goes to Noah Johnson, who touched our hearts

I’ll admit it: I may be prone to using the odd famous quote in my column.

And by the way, that means I’m in good company, as that great West Australian Justin Langer is also partial to the odd quotation or two.

So it occurred to me that when writing my last Being Barra for the year, why not use a quotation to enlighten everyone? It’ll be like a little window into someone else’s thoughts and emotions.

I’m happy to admit that I’m not that familiar with the work of rapper Jelly Roll, but I like his name and also what is apparently his best-known quote: “The windshield is bigger than the rearview mirror for a reason. Because what’s in front of you is so much more important thanwhat’s behind you.”

Boom! Spot on, Jelly. As we look towards 2025, let’s all remember that truism.

As Auguste Gusteau in Ratatouille (voiced by Brad Garrett) says, “if you focus on what you’ve left behind, you will never be able to see what lies ahead”. Bingo, my friend.

But I do want to look back in one sense and award some “Barra Awards”.

For the most inspiring, magnificent moment of 2024, I nominate 12-year-old Noah Johnson, who I met at Telethon. Noah had been battling cancer for most of the year and in the 281 days after being given the horrible news, Noah and his family had lived through 31 rounds of radiation. Fourteen rounds of chemotherapy. And as someone said, “countless moments of darkness”.

But then on December 12, he was declared cancer free. The boy who seemed to be smiling during the whole Telethon weekend (and who ordered Danny Green and I be slimed) was finally given the all-clear. There was hardly a dry eye in the place when he was able to ring the bell on Perth Children’s Hospital’s oncology ward to mark the end of his treatment.

If you missed his story you can google it and while you’re there, also check out when Sunrise host Nat Barr breaks down talking about Noah. The Bunbury girl fought back tears live on air when she referenced The West Australian’s powerful front page featuring Noah and his heart-breaking quote: “I don’t want you to get sad Mummy, but sometimes I think it would be easier if I died” (and was emotional again when discussing that moment on air during Telethon).

Life doesn’t get much more powerful than that, my friends. Many people have been touched by serious illness, of course, and to you I send my best wishes and add “you’re stronger than you think” (easy for others to say, I know), “keep your face towards the sunshine”, “you’re not defined by your disease”, “once you choose hope, anything’s possible” and “and never say no to the warm apple pie and ice-cream”.

(I hope you don’t think I was being flippant there; I was reaching for a positive mantra).

My encouragement award for 2024 goes to my friend Ben Cousins.

Aussies like it when someone beats the odds — when someone rises again, after they looked down for the count.

From what I’ve seen, Ben has made his kids the main focus in his life and through forgiveness, resilience and empowerment he has reclaimed his life and is inspiring others to do the same.

Stories of redemption give us all hope.