INTHEBLACK September 2021 - Magazine - Page 74
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// G I V I N G B A C K
STORY KATIE LANGMORE
AGAINST
THE ODDS
A PERSONAL UPHEAVAL LED TO BAKOUS MAKARI CPA
TAKING ON AND OVERCOMING A SERIES OF
CHALLENGES. HE NOW DEVOTES HIS TIME TO
FUNDRAISING FOR CANCER RESEARCH WHILE
REACHING OUT TO THOSE WITH A DISABILITY.
D
ifferent motivations compel people to volunteer
their time with charity organisations. For many, it
is the desire to give back to their community. For
others, the calling is more personal.
When public practitioner Bakous Makari CPA visited
a doctor with leg pain 11 years ago, he did not expect to
be told that he had a rare form of bone cancer and may
only have a few months to live.
Makari made the tough decision to remove the cancer
and have a full leg amputation, in the hope this would
save his life.
“If you’re lucky enough to catch this cancer early,
you can amputate. It was the only way to eradicate
the cancer,” says Makari. “Even so, there was only
a 30 per cent chance of survival after amputation.”
Makari lost his leg from the hip down, leaving him
with a heavy, cumbersome prosthetic to carry that
requires both his physical and mental strength.
“Anyone who has had an amputation is never the
same. I was living in fear for a while – not knowing if
I would survive the cancer. If I did, I was told by my
doctor that I would be confined to a wheelchair for
the rest of my life.”
However, Makari says he never gave up hope and
was determined to live fully. “I didn’t allow adversity
to completely change my life.”
In the months that followed his amputation, Makari
learned to walk with his prosthetic and returned to his
accountancy practice, Makari and Co.
By 2012, he was feeling driven to find a platform
through which he could give back to the community and
help others overcome adversity. Makari successfully stood
for council elections with the City of Parramatta and, by
2015, he was deputy lord mayor.
Makari cites both his experience with adversity and his
years of experience in accounting as useful tools for his
work with his local council. “If you’re elected into a role like
74 ITB September 2021
The Children’s Medical
Research Institute (CMRI)
is a Sydney-based
independent organisation.
The CMRI’s more than
170 scientists are
committed to finding
treatments and cures
for serious conditions
affecting children.
cmrijeansforgenes.org.au
CLICK HERE
TO ACCESS
CPA Australia’s
resources for
voluntary or pro
bono accounting
services
that, you should have some form of skill that can support
the organisation and the community that you serve.”
During his tenure as deputy lord mayor, Makari
visited the Children’s Hospital at Westmead’s oncology
department to share his story of hope with the young
cancer patients and their families, and to meet with
medical researchers.
Inspired by their work and eager to help, Makari
homed in on a fitness challenge at his local gym.
“I immediately saw it as a way I could help encourage
those with a disability,” he recalls.
Makari set up a fundraising profile with the Children’s
Medical Research Institute – enabling supporters to
directly fund children’s cancer research – and was soon
undertaking six weeks of gruelling physical challenges
alongside 40 able-bodied participants.
Remarkably, his post-operative years of strengthening
both mind and body paid off, and Makari won the
challenge.
“There was a lot of goodwill from the community.
I raised close to A$60,000,” he says, adding proudly that
every thousand dollars raised supports the Institute for
two more days of research. “Those two days could be the
difference between saving a child’s life and them dying.”
Makari still goes to the gym regularly, finding it crucial
for both his physical and mental wellbeing. “Going
through something as severe as the amputation can be
a very lonely experience, so I find it’s really crucial to stay
healthy and fit. It helps alleviate the daily stresses of life.”
He remains passionate about finding ways to reach
out to people with a disability or those facing adversity,
and to inspire hope and courage. “Through motivational
speaking or any other way that I can help, I’m there.”