Two good men down

In the past week, we lost two giants of health and humanity. I was lucky enough to interview both in my career, so here's what they told me that I've carried ever since.

Without a doubt, the best part of my job is the people I get to meet. I’ve lost count of how many interviews I’ve done, but it would be in the hundreds (and hundreds). I carry them around in me for some time before most eventually fade away to free up storage. But some stay longer, and some never leave me at all.

One of which is Neale Daniher. The AFL legend was about as beloved as they come when he showed up at our Everyday Health studio in Melbourne’s Caulfield North. We feel pretty strongly about our footy players in this country, and while I can take or leave footy (don’t tell anyone, I know it’s un-Australian) I was as taken with him as the next guy. He’d been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) a few years prior, and - even though he understood the gravity - he spoke about it with such grace and humility.

He had already sprung into action to co-found Fight MND - a charity that would go on to raise more than $100 million in funds for research and care programs and see Neale named the 2025 Australian of the year. When I met him a decade prior, he seemed grateful - not to be sick, but to be in a position to do something about it for others in the future.

What struck me most was how he spoke of his family, with such adoration for his wife and kids. He was a true-blue, Aussie gentleman. Just a husband and Dad who knew his time here was being cut short, but one who wasn’t prepared to go down without a fight.

I don’t usually use that language with illness, but fight he did - for 13 years - before passing away peacefully on Monday morning at the age of 65.

I remember watching him leave the studio that day, knowing it would probably be the last time I’d ever get to witness that sort of generosity in person. And while I only got to spend an hour with the guy, I’ve carried him with me ever since. Thank you, Neale, for showing us all what it’s like to turn pain into purpose and changing innumerable lives along the way (mine included).

Neale and I on the set of Everyday Health (2016)

Dr Nikhil Autar was another interview that made a home in me. When we met, the 2024 NSW Australian of the Year had lived more life in his 30 years than the rest of us probably will in a lifetime. At 17, when the rest of us are trying to learn how to take of ourselves, he was diagnosed with leukaemia and given a slim chance of survival. For the next 12 years, he underwent more medical interventions than he could count, all while working to fulfil his dream of becoming a doctor himself.

After countless setbacks, he finally graduated from medicine. A testament to determination, grit and never giving up. Then, as if managing his chronic illnesses with life as a junior doctor wasn’t impressive enough, he added entrepreneur to his résumé. Nikhil used his lived experience and passion for changing the world for people living with serious illness and disability to start not one but two social enterprises. One a hospital-at-home bed technology to help prevent falls, and the other a sort of Google Maps of disability - to help people who are impaired get to the places they want to go, and avoid the chronic loneliness he himself had felt so acutely.

What stuck with me from our conversation was him saying that you don’t need to be a doctor to make a difference - “simply being someone who cares makes the world a better place”, he told me.

Nikhil passed away last week at the age of just 32. What a lot of life he managed to pack in, and what a joy it was to get to share a tiny snippet of it with him. My heart is with Nikhil’s family, who’ve known more loss in this lifetime than is fair. If they ever read this, I hope they know that he was deeply cared for and what he did mattered - even to complete strangers like me. And I don’t think there’s much in life that’s more meaningful than that.

Nikhil and I on the set of Austraordinary Heroes (2025)

Losing two good men in a week is a stark reminder of how limited our time here really is. But the fact they both did so much good is a reminder of the very best kind - that it’s what we do with our time here that matters most.

If you need to hear this today, I hope it finds you.

Casey x

P.S: Need a book recommendation?! I just finished Lena Dunham’s Famesick and it’s gorgeous, especially if you loved Girls and enjoy a peek behind the curtains of Hollywood (and healthcare). Highly recommend if you need a new read.

P.P.S: Need another? Next of Kin (by, ah, me) is also brilliant. At least, that’s what my Mum says. Get your copy here and help this little book do big things.

P.P.P.S: Want to know 5 tiny things I do for my future self before 9am? Find out what they are here (and while you’re there, join 30,000 friends and I for tiny humanity and health hacks for real life).