General News
30 March, 2026
Dimboola couple's special day
After a challenging few months, Dimboola couple Cam Ballinger and Dee Devlin arrived at their wedding day carrying more emotion than most brides and grooms.
On March 8, they exchanged vows before an overjoyed gathering of family and friends who had been eagerly awaiting the celebration.
“Seeing Cam at the end of the aisle waiting for me was something very special,” Dee said, and judging by the look on the groom’s face, the feeling was unmistakably mutual.
"To see him standing there, from seeing him on life support to standing at the end of the aisle waiting for me, was truly amazing."
Cam was lost for words when he saw Dee walking towards him.
"It was just so emotional, there were so many emotions, it's hard to describe exactly how I felt, I just thought she looked gorgeous and couldn't wait for her to reach me," he said.
It was a wedding day, but it was also a celebration of resilience and love, shared with the people who supported them through the difficult months leading up to it.
What a journey!
Six months earlier, the biggest decision on their minds had been choosing a wedding venue — until everything changed in an instant when Cam’s health took an unexpected and frightening turn.
It was a Tuesday night, August 26 — just six days after their engagement on August 21, 2025.
Cam was home alone, preparing to go to work, but he didn’t feel quite right.
Even though he couldn’t pinpoint any specific symptoms, something in his gut told him that he needed to act.
“I felt nauseous and had a small pain in my wrist and chest, but nothing severe,” Cam said.
“I rang Dee, who was at a meeting in town, and asked her to come home.
“All I could tell her was I just didn’t feel quite right.”
But it was enough for Dee to take Cam to the emergency department in Horsham immediately.
Looking a picture of health as he walked down the aisle on their wedding day, six and a half months later, it was hard to imagine the roller coaster the couple had been on from that day in August to this.
However, they both agree it was the immediate action they took that prepared them for this amazing outcome and for Cam to walk down the aisle unaided.
That, and the professionalism and quick action of the medical teams at Horsham, Geelong, and The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne.
“It is so important to go with your gut feeling,” Cam said.
“No one knows your body as you do, and it was this gut feeling that made me ring Dee and then agree to go to the hospital.”
On arrival at the emergency department in Horsham on that August day, tests showed he’d had a mild heart attack, two in fact, but with little warning, this was followed by a major heart attack while he was in the ED.
Being in the hospital already meant the urgent care he needed was immediately available.
“Even then, I didn’t have a lot of pain, but I still felt nauseous, I was hot, and my blood pressure was high,” he said.
“At one stage, I opened my eyes, and everyone was looking at me.
“I thought, 'Gee, what’s going on here?'.”
Even though he wasn’t sure what was happening to him, he felt calm, but he was aware enough to decide that he was not going to die.
“I had the will to live,” he said.
“But, in hindsight, I think you realise how vulnerable you are and how much you depend on the people around you when something like this happens to you.”
As the situation developed, he was recommended blood-clot-busting medication.
“I was unsure whether to have the medication or not due to the potential risks, until the doctor said, 'If you were my father, I would tell you to have it'," Cam said.
“When he said that, I thought, okay, if it’s good enough for his Dad, I should do this even though there were risks of a brain bleed.
“Without the medication, I could be in trouble, but I knew that I could also be in trouble if I did; I decided to follow the doctor’s advice."
The medical team at Horsham decided Cam needed more specialised care and arranged for him to be transferred to the Ballarat Hospital.
Dee began the drive to Ballarat to meet the ambulance.
On the way, she received a phone call to say Cam was being transferred to Geelong instead, so she detoured, driving through the night to meet the ambulance.
Cam’s youngest daughter, Ebony, was also on the road, following Dee.
The ambulance arrived at the Geelong Hospital with Cam between 4-5am; Dee arrived about an hour later.
“I can’t remember a lot about Geelong,” Cam said.
“But I was admitted to the cardio ward and had an angiogram at about 9am, which showed I had a blockage.
“Fortunately, it was only one, or I would have had to have open heart surgery, which would have been a major operation."
During all of this, Cam says he still wasn’t really aware of how sick he was.
“As the patient, I was being cared for, but I felt sorry for everyone else who was so concerned,” he said.
Dee headed for a motel to get some much-needed rest after driving through the night and experiencing the trauma that goes with seeing a loved one face a sudden health crisis.
However, around 1pm she received a call that Cam's cognitive symptoms were worsening.
He had been moved into the ICU, and doctors now suspected a brain haemorrhage.
She immediately headed back to the hospital.
Cam was then transferred to the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne on Life Support.
By now, his daughters Shania and her husband Tom, and Ebony and her partner Eden had arrived at the hospital and were able to see their Dad before he went into theatre at 7pm.
Surgery was performed to insert a drainage tube to drain the excess cerebral fluid.
He remained in the ICU for 10 days.
“I was very confused when I came around and couldn't work out who was where or where I was,” he said.
“I also had no idea I was in Melbourne.”
Gradually, Cam began the long road to recovery.
Although he sometimes imagined things on the ceiling — like sound‑system gear from his old muso days — and experienced bouts of confusion, he never lost his sense of humour or who he was.
“He was still himself,” Dee said.
"He was ill, but we could see the old Cam was still there, and that gave us hope for a full recovery."
“The medical staff was amazing,” Cam said.
“I tried to make light of my situation when I felt a bit better by saying my name was Eugene or something silly like that, just to give them something to laugh at.
“They work so hard in life and death situations; I just wanted to make them smile.”
However, Cam’s recovery process was not without its challenges.
Following the heart attacks he suffered in Horsham, Cam endured an extraordinary series of medical challenges.
Over the weeks that followed, he underwent seven surgeries, battled a chest infection, a brain bleed, a golden staph infection, and Covid‑19.
He had a stent inserted into his heart, EVD tubes placed on both the left and right sides, a shunt fitted, and he required gastric‑nasal tubes; in addition to being in the ICU on Life Support.
Yet despite everything, he still managed to celebrate his birthday on September 21 — marking the day with KFC and Krispy Kreme in his hospital room.
Cam and Dee agreed to tell their story because it might help someone else.
Their message is: listen to your body, you know it best, and then act on it.
They also believe that hope is very important, and having someone with you to advocate for you when you can't do that for yourself.
"I am certain that I would not be here today if it were not for Dee," Cam said.
"She knew me so well that she could advocate for me when I was unconscious or was too ill to make my own decisions.
"The medical staff was amazing, but it is important to remember they do not know you, and what you or your advocate can tell them can make a big difference in their decision-making and your recovery."
Dee stayed in Melbourne with Cam for the entire time and kept a meticulous record of his heart attack journey, both for future health reasons and for Cam to piece together the days and weeks of that journey after his recovery.
Since then, he has had a series of follow-up appointments, but the one that sticks in both their minds is the one when the doctor in Horsham said, ”And here's the miracle of modern medicine," while shaking his head in amazement.
“For a doctor to say that, I realised just how fortunate I was,” Cam said.
"Our wedding day was a celebration of so many things — Cam’s recovery, our marriage, our two families coming together, and the sheer reality that we had made it to this day after everything being on hold and the uncertainty that such a profound medical event brings,” Dee said.
Cam’s daughters, Shania and Ebony, were his attendants, while Dee was supported by her son Ash and daughter Caitlin.
Their grandchildren, Hunter and Maisie, took on the all‑important role of ring security, capturing another fun memory from this special day.
Cam returned to work on March 4, and while he will be on medication for the rest of his life, he says, “It is a small price to pay."