Carly's Memorial Website

You can shed tears because he has gone
Or you can smile because he has lived

This Website has been established by the family of Carl Richard Jackson to commemorate his life.

Carl was a great lover of technology and so it will be his Website and the Medical Scholarship, set up in his name that enables those left behind to revisit and remember this lovely man. It will also help those still to come to learn about the person affectionately known as ‘Carly’.

Carl was renowned for his generosity, his quirky sense of humour and his determination. When Carl set out to learn about something he did it full on ....nothing by halves. This is how he approached his studies and in reality his life. Mahatma Gandhi once said

“Learn as if you were going to live forever.
Live as if you were going to die tomorrow.”

Carly thought this made a lot of sense.

He was a gifted and dedicated student. In 1995, Carl was Dux in his Higher School Certificate year at De La Salle College, Cronulla. He initially commenced a Bachelor of Engineering Degree at Sydney University, following in the footsteps of his father and older brother. This proved to be short lived. Carl really wanted to become a doctor, not an engineer. So he transferred to physiotherapy, as he decided this would be a very useful undergraduate degree.

However, in 1998, to many it looked like his career path had come to an end when he suffered severe head injuries in a motorcycle accident. After a year of convalescence, despite still suffering from physical injuries and memory loss, Carl resumed his studies. To help overcome his memory problems, Carl used technology and determination. He recorded lectures, electronically organised data and accessed on-line databases, quickly becoming the resident I.T. guru for his fellow students. In 2002, Carl graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science (Physiotherapy). He then proceeded to study medicine and in his final year completed a medical elective at the Children’s Surgical Centre (formerly known as the Rose Hospital), Cambodia. It was at this time when witnessing the plight and stoicism of the Cambodian people that Carl hardened his resolve to specialise in Orthopaedics. He graduated from Medicine in 2007 with a Bachelor of Surgery and Bachelor of Medicine with Honours.

Sadly, Carl’s ambition to become an orthopaedic surgeon was not fulfilled. Carl died at age 30, on the afternoon of 21st July 2008, while sleeping prior to his evening shift, as a Resident Medical Officer at Gosford Hospital.