Connor Prunty - A biography

Connor was born on 9 August 1998.

Even when he was quite young he was very quiet, but very thoughtful.

Connor started school at St Alipius where he quickly developed good friendships with a small number of boys his own age. Soon after he began school it became obvious that he was good at maths, but had a distinct dislike of English.

On the weekends Connor had a year playing futsal with a school team, but didn’t have much success. Despite this he enjoyed the competition and the trophy which he received at the end of the season. Beyond futsal, there wasn’t much sport in Connor’s life at all.

Rather than play sport, Connor seemed to enjoy making things and as he climbed the year levels at St Alipius he became very interested in their Energy Breakthrough Team. As soon as he was old enough he joined the team and wouldn’t miss the chance to spend his afternoons at school to build the vehicle to take to Maryborough for their big weekend in November.

Connor’s weekends in Maryborough were something he looked forward to and worked towards for a good part of the year, both at St Alipius and then when he began at Damascus College. EBT was his real love and his happy place, and that third weekend in November was not too be messed.

During EBT weekends, Connor didn’t care if he got no sleep as long as everything was going well on the track. He wasn’t a fan of being in the car on the track, but was keen to ensure that when everyone else was, they were in a positive mood to be competitive. Due to his love of maths, Connor enjoyed the statistics involved in the racing and was keen to know what times were made and where they could be improved on.

Connor’s other love was computers and as well as building vehicles for Energy Breakthrough weekends, he started to build and adjust computers. He could fix anything that was electronic and loved doing so, which led him to apply to do an engineering course when he left school.

With his free time, Connor decided he wanted to give something to the community, so joined the Buninyong-Mt. Helen CFA. He became very dedicated to this group and while he had no real desire to drive the fire truck he worked hard, becoming a lieutenant and going out to local fires as well as bushfires in more distant places. There were opportunities in this that he wouldn’t never have dreamt possible such as flying in very small aircraft and a chinook helicopter, which were experiences he really enjoyed.

In his role at the CFA Connor would go from door to door selling calendars to raise money for the brigade, stand at roundabouts raising money for the Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal, attend CFA open days, visit schools and just be available to do what was needed.

Unfortunately when Connor was only 24 he developed a very aggressive bowel cancer and died peacefully only six weeks after his diagnosis. During this time he was courageous and remained thoughtful of his family and all those around him.

The Fiona Elsey Institute are doing amazing research to try and find out more about efficient ways to treat cancers such as Connor’s which will hopefully mean that less people will need to suffer as he did.

Connor had a lot to teach us all about how to live life and has left a wonderful legacy.