A lifelong truckie, Shaun ‘Chucky’ Cronin’s personal and professional life took the biggest hit of all in April when he was diagnosed with a terminal illness. But with the support of his employers, workmates, friends and family, Chucky and his life partner Hayley were able to fast-track their wedding, bringing a ray of light to their darkest of times
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With Chucky in the passenger seat of Eastwell’s 659, the wedding convoy travels through Toowoomba
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You know what I love about our industry – about truckies as a whole? We do stick together. When times get tough that legendary brotherhood of the road is still there. It still exists. Sure, we operate in a different environment to what some class as the good old days of trucking. Yes, we are rapidly losing those roadhouse diners where there’s more BS around the table than there are potholes on the Newell.
Yes, there’s a higher chance of you hearing an “I’ve got a big …” over the two-way than you are receiving the traditional ‘truckies wave’ as you pass a fellow traveller. And it may be true that the ancient, practiced art of ‘creative logbook writing’ has been lost to the annals of history as our roads are swamped with Safe T Cams and our phones are inundated with Logbook apps. But when push comes to shove, truckies still look out for truckies. And old school truckies have a bond that ties them harder and faster than the legendary rigs they used to fly down the highway in.
Today’s story is here to remind us that when the proverbial effluent hits the rotating arrangement of vanes or blades, truckies stand up.
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Chucky and his beautiful bride … with his pride and joy in the background |
On April 18 this year I received a phone call from a friend of mine, Craig Palmer. Craig works for Eastwell’s Haulage. A week before he called me, one of his workmates had his whole life turned upside down.
Shaun ‘Chucky’ Cronin had been doing what he was born to do, that’s drive trucks, drive trucks and drive trucks. He was up in the sparkling Queensland town of Emerald when the minor stomach pains he had been ignoring escalated. I’m talking bad enough that it took three paramedics to get him out of the truck.
While the boys at Eastwell’s had often said Chuckys’ Kenworth addiction was at a point you’d have to drag him out of the truck kicking and screaming, this was not the kind of situation they had joked about. Chucky was rushed to hospital where he was assessed and diagnosed. The hospital food and sponge baths may have been to Chucky’s liking, but the diagnosis wasn’t.
Chucky was diagnosed with Metastatic Mucinous Adenocarcinoma. Now most of us would have absolutely no idea how to pronounce that, much less understand what it is. Suffice to say, it isn’t good.
The Mucinous Adenocarcinoma part of that three-word sentence is bad enough on its own. It’s a very rare cancer. Add in the Metastatic part and it basically means it’s spread. Far and wide. It’s a life-ending prognosis. In less than a week this lifelong truckie, who started his career in the flat-out flying days of the late ’80s, had his world turned upside down.
Hence why Craig rang me. He wanted to not just share the story but also give me the opportunity to share in a memory-making event.
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Lots of attention for Chucky, this time from Sasha and the twins |
Chucky had been torn from one of the loves of his life, his truck. But while he still had fight in him, he was determined to solidify the other loves of his life. His fiancé Hayley and their eight kids. Please indulge me as we share his story.
Chance meeting
Chucky ‘picked up’ Hayley almost a decade ago now – the picked-up part I mean quite literally. Chucky had run out of hours on his way south from Cairns. He was carting produce for S&G Transport and pulled into the Caltex in Rockhampton for his break when he saw the young Hayley hitchhiking.
“I spotted her there at Rocky, I checked to make sure she was all right, hanging out there at night,” says Chucky. Being the truck-driving gentleman he was, he offered her the top bunk in his truck. He filled in his fatigue break while getting to know this lady who was hitching her way down to Brisbane. When the logbook was good to go Chucky escorted Hayley all the way back down the Bruce highway and, basically, the two of them have been together ever since.
“We’ve had some adventures along the way,” Chucky laughs.
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There was more than enough truckies keen to rock up and escort the bride and groom from the hospital to the ceremony |
“One time when I was doing the Cairns-Brisbane-Melbourne-Adelaide run I flew Hayley down to Adelaide, we got a motel room down there and when we were there she told me the glass was a one-way glass so we could see out but people couldn’t see in. So I’d been wandering around starkers. I realised you could see everything when I went out to have a cigarette and looked back in the window.”
The two of them were made for each other, both independent, both hard workers and both madly in love. Along with Hayley, Chucky also became a stepfather to Hayley’s four young kids. That family soon grew, with Hayley recalling the exact moment she found out about child number five.
“Keep in mind when we met Chucky told me he can’t have kids,” Hayley recalls. “One day when he was on his 24-hour break in Brissy I went to see him and he said to me, ‘Your boobs have gotten bigger’. I brushed him off but later found out we were expecting Sasha.”
Being young at heart Chucky was stoked. On the high side of 50 he was suddenly becoming a father. Hell, he enjoyed it that much he carried on, adding in child number six, seven and eight.
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You can’t keep a good man down. Sadly the doctors wouldn’t let Chucky drive but it wasn’t for lack of trying |
After driving for over 30 years, everything was falling into place for Chucky. He had the woman of his dreams, he was a dad to eight amazing kids and the couple had just purchased a house big enough for their tribe on some land out near Jondaryan, north west of Toowoomba. Top that up with Chucky having his dream job – driving a whopping big Kenworth hauling road trains for a company he loves – Eastwell’s Haulage.
Diminishing health
That brings us up to the start of 2023 when life just got flipped on its head. When the doctors told Chucky exactly how dire it was, there was only one thing he wanted, that was to get married. A wedding had always been on the cards but even Hayley laughingly admitted, “He’s always been married to the truck; there was never enough time for anything else.”
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Eastwell’s owners and drivers were there to support Chucky and Hayley on their big day |
Chucky’s diminishing health meant the organisation of the world’s fastest wedding. There would be a small window when the hospital would be able to dose Chucky up enough to be able to leave the hospital and make it through the day, but it had to be soon. Hence the speedy organisation of the wedding. Six days to be precise.
Basically, that gets us up to the part where Craig rang me, and this is the part I was most keen to share with our readers. Because this is the part where we should all be proud of the transport family we are a part of.
The trucking brotherhood and sisterhood stepped up. Hayley and Chucky’s mates took over the six-day planning schedule for the wedding like they were highly qualified allocators. They found a location available, organised a celebrant on short notice, managed to sort out all the seating and decorations, found suits and, most importantly, a wedding dress.
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To be able to put on a wedding and get such a turnout on just six days’ notice is a testament to how much our industry still stands up when it counts |
Chucky’s years in the industry meant there were countless people not just willing but wanting to help. It was an amazing effort. His impact on the industry was never more evident than with his current employer, Eastwell’s Haulage. The family-owned company made sure that all those who wanted to get home for the event were indeed able to attend, fitting loads and schedules around Chucky and Hayley’s wedding. Some drivers had worked right up until the morning of the event and still put the effort in to clean up their trucks in order to participate in the surprise convoy that escorted the couple to the wedding.
Craig’s original request of me was to share a little of Chucky and Hayley’s story, and the camaraderie that was shown by the industry in these tough times. Which is what I am doing now. However, I was thankful that I, along with partner Michelle Williams of Michelle Williams Photography, were able to volunteer to do the wedding photos for the couple. Helping to record the day for Chucky, Hayley and their kids.
It was a fantastic day. Under such terminal conditions there was so much laughter and reminiscing. There was plenty of stories being told, most of which I can’t share for censorship reasons. It was a day where the best part of our industry was on display. Mates standing up for mates.
Our industry has gone through changes and will always do so. At the core of it all though are a lot of good people. People that can stand up and be counted on. It was great to see those old-school practices in action. It’s just a pity it’s under such incurable conditions.
For those wanting to help the Cronin family, a GoFundMe.com page has been set up under the name of ‘Loving truck driver (Chucky) and family man’ by Hayley Chilton.
Sadly, Shaun ‘Chucky Cronin’s brave battle came to an end on May 31, 2023 when he passed away while surrounded by his wife Hayley and their children.
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