Arthur Demetriou didn’t take a breath for the first 15 minutes of his life.
In those excruciatingly long and stressful minutes for first time parents Irene and Jim, medical professionals fought to save him.
Eternally grateful for their efforts, the couple later learned their beautiful baby boy would live with cerebral palsy, a physical disability that can affect vital functions such as movement, posture and speech. They were told Arthur may not have the ability to sit up, let alone carry out any significant cognitive function.
But Arthur proved them wrong.
“Being diagnosed with cerebral palsy, I’ve always focused on the things I can do, I simply don’t worry about the things I can’t,” the 19-year-old says with a beaming smile.
Photo: Penny Harnett.
“Also, I have not set any limits for myself – and I know whatever I set my mind to, I can achieve.”- Arthur Demetriou
On the drive to school each day, his father would use the valuable time to connect with his son, talk about life and challenge his thinking and perceptions of the world around him.
“He is an extraordinary young man,” Jim explains.
“He's a person who finds solutions rather than sitting around and crying all day.
“Stuff always happens in life, but we taught him to focus on the good things. Every day, beautiful things happen. You just need to notice those things.”
It’s clear Arthur is a ‘glass half full kind of person’.
Returning home from school each day, Arthur would be enthusiastic and filled with a sense of purpose.
“He was genuinely excited because he saw the good in people all the time and the subjects he was studying, they had meaning,” Jim explained.
Arthur’s Angels help him soar
Arthur joined Melbourne’s Oakleigh Grammar from grade 4, surrounded by his Greek culture, where he discovered an extended family - a school community that helped him thrive.
With assistance from the Learning Enhancement team in the Middle and Senior Schools, Arthur flourished with the support of his learning assistants, affectionately nicknamed ‘Arthur’s Angels’. Those ‘angels’ helped him with notetaking, acting as scribes for assessments and other acts of support.
Arthur’s positive attitude, unwavering focus and steely determination are paying dividends as he navigates life.
He completed his high school education at Oakleigh Grammar, serving as Vice Captain in his final year, while also balancing participation in the School Representative Council, along with his studies.
Driven by his extensive and deeply personal experience of the health system while growing up, Arthur developed an aspiration to work in medicine.
This dream led him to Newcastle.
In December 2024, Arthur stood in the University of Newcastle’s Great Hall before a sea of caps and gowns to deliver the student address at his Open Foundation graduation ceremony.
Open Foundation is the University of Newcastle’s free ‘university-ready’ pathway program that has transformed thousands of lives and opened the doors to education and career opportunities for people from all walks of life. Since 1974, it has grown to become the largest enabling program of its kind in Australia and is recognised as the industry benchmark.
Before his fellow enabling student graduates, Arthur revealed his personal dream for the future – to practise medicine.
“My parents told me that people may feel sorry for me due to my disability, but nobody will love me enough to pay my gas bill at the end of the month,” he shared from the stage.
“They said if I wanted to achieve anything worthwhile in my life, I needed to be proactive and make things happen.
“Same goes for all of us. We must adopt a can-do attitude in our lives and be the drivers of our own bus so that we can dream big and achieve whatever we aspire to.”
What is cerebral palsy?
Cerebral palsy is the most common lifelong physical disability in the world with more than 34,000 Australians living with the disability. People with cerebral palsy face significant barriers in everyday life.
The Cerebral Palsy Alliance explains it is an umbrella term for a group of disorders affecting a person’s ability to move. In most cases, it is caused by an injury to the developing brain either during pregnancy or shortly after birth.
Cerebral meaning ‘of the brain’ and palsy referring to ‘a lack of muscle control’ affects body movement, muscle control, muscle coordination, muscle tone, reflex, posture and balance. People who have cerebral palsy may also have visual, learning, hearing, speech, epilepsy and intellectual impairments.
Questioning the status quo
Arthur spent many days and nights in the hospital system while growing up due to the obstacles he faced with cerebral palsy. It was the catalyst that spurred his decision to pursue a career in medicine.
As part of his Year 12 English oral exam, Arthur spoke about why more physically disabled people should go into medicine.
He posed a simple question to his examiners – when was the last time they visited a GP who was in a wheelchair?
“My plan is to break this stigma,” he told the Great Hall audience, “and to defy the odds by believing that I can do anything I put my mind to, being driven by my need to help others and make a difference in this world.
“The challenge I pose to you is to find your why: why are you here? Why will you make a difference to our world?” he asked the graduates – each with their futures laid bare before them.
On the tail of a long chorus of applause, University of Newcastle Chancellor, the Honourable Patricia Forsythe, AM, responded.
“I have just one word for you Arthur – inspiring.”
Arthur has since taken a mighty and significant step towards achieving his goal, making history in the process - as the first student with cerebral palsy to be accepted to study medicine at the University of Newcastle.
Joint Medical Program (JMP) student Arthur Demetriou looking at resources in the Auchmuty library. Photo: Penny Harnett.
Arthur Demetriou at his Open Foundation graduation in 2024 with University of Newcastle Chancellor the Hon Patricia Forsythe and Vice-Chancellor Prof Alex Zelinsky, AO.
Medicine student Arthur Demetriou is expecting some tough times throughout his five-year medicine degree. Photo: Penny Harnett.
Arthur says he experienced beautiful support from Newcastle communities since his family moved from Melbourne. Photo: Penny Harnett.
The door to medicine opens
Arthur is a first year Joint Medical Program (JMP) student at the University of Newcastle - achieving entry via the Excellence through Equity Pathway to Medicine (EtE) program.
Established in 2020, the unique pathway program supports enabling program students from diverse backgrounds, who have experienced sustained educational disadvantage, to study medicine.
As the University celebrates its 60th year in 2025, Director of Pathways and Academic Learning Support, Associate Professor Anna Bennett said the University had a proud and longstanding commitment to widening participation for students from all backgrounds.
“Our Open Foundation and Yapug programs have long provided successful pathways into other undergraduate disciplines,” Anna said.
“These enabling pathway programs have supported tens of thousands of students set out on their educational journeys, helping them to realise their dreams and achieve their goals.
“We see our Excellence through Equity Pathway to Medicine as a means to helping to enhance empathy and inclusion in the medical field and ensuring we are graduating high-quality medical practitioners who reflect our society.”
The EtE program is a collaborative offering by the College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, the Centre of Excellence for Equity in Higher Education (CEEHE) and Pathways and Academic Learning Support Centre (PALS).
Along with needing to demonstrate a number of equity indicators, applicants to this pathway to medicine must provide a personal statement reflecting on their interest in, enthusiasm for and understanding of medicine.
“Our Excellence through Equity Pathway to Medicine program will help shape a medical workforce that better reflects the broader community and will ensure health services and approaches to care are developed and provided with the full diversity of the population in mind,” Anna said.
“In turn, this can lead to greater health equity in our society.”
His father agrees.
“Arthur has experienced what good healthcare looks and feels like.
“Because of his cerebral palsy, he will bring a unique perspective to the profession,” Jim says.
“He has an awareness and empathy from his own experience with health care and he will bring this to his own professional standards later.”
Becoming the change
Arthur’s decision to study medicine was not taken lightly. He and his parents uprooted their life in Melbourne, moving to the Newcastle suburb of Mayfield, close to the University’s Callaghan campus, so he could follow his dream.
Arthur Demetriou with parents Irene and Jim on the University of Newcastle's Callaghan campus. Photo: Penny Harnett.
Still consumed with excitement at the realisation he is a first-year medicine student, Arthur has settled into university life, with the support of the Student Wellbeing team, including the AccessAbility service – helping him with things such as mobility around campus and software to record and transcribe lectures.
As he immerses himself in the journey ahead, Arthur draws inspiration from Dr Dinesh Palipana OAM, an emergency doctor living with quadriplegia and a passionate disability advocate dedicating his professional life to working, teaching and researching health.
“He’s in a wheelchair and doesn't have much use of his hands, and yet, is still an active, practising doctor in emergency,” Arthur says.
“It is incredible, and my thinking is, if he can do it, I can too.”
His mother, Irene, has no doubts.
“He's got the mindset to achieve,” she says.
“He’s overcome all these obstacles that he's got physically and run with his strengths. And he’s got plenty of strengths and the attitude to overcome anything. So, I’m very proud.”
Finding strength and connection in community
Arthur’s grateful for not one, but two communities who have helped his family adjust to the big move to Newcastle.
“We've stepped into a beautiful university community, but also our community at our Greek Orthodox Church at Hamilton.
“I really applaud the University for providing pathway programs which give people opportunities and for employing such kind people who really want to help.
“We have nothing but generous things to say about the University of Newcastle. Everybody has been amazing.”
However, Arthur is under no illusions. He’s bracing for some tough days and long nights of studying throughout his five-year medicine degree.
“It will be a lot of work. But I think if I stay top of it, work as a team when needed and just find the beauty in what I'm learning, that will make a difference.
“It's not just facts I’m learning, it's things that will one day, save a life - and that's something I’m so happy about.
“I want to make it clear to everyone that, if I can do this, you can too. Don't let anything limit you.” - Arthur Demetriou
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