Peter Stewart’s best life

Article originally published in SALife InDaily in June 2024.

“CEO of estara, SA’s peak spinal cord injury body, Peter Stewart chats about how a terrible day became his best and the case for not planning too far ahead.

Describe the best day of your life.
Hands down, the day my son and best mate, Tom (aka Tommy), was born. Which is a weird thing to say, because the moments after his birth were extremely traumatic for my wife, Jackie, and me, because Tom had cord asphyxia (the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck). He was whisked away from us, and because we were both nursing at the time, we knew what ‘Code Blue’ over the PA meant – medical emergency. Thankfully he came through quickly and has become just the most magnificent young man you could ever meet.

What was your best purchase?
I’m such a keen shopper, I’m not sure I can pin it down to one purchase, but I’ll go with my Fender Stratocaster, 40^th anniversary US edition in sunburst (the classic Stratocaster colour). I’m not a particularly good rhythm guitarist (my singing is definitely better) but playing live music is the biggest thrill on earth and you may as well be wielding arguably (Gibson Les Paul fans look away now…) the greatest guitar of all time. I bought it in 1994 (wow, it’s 30 years old) and it’s still in magnificent condition, though probably wasted on me.

What is the best photograph you have?
I’m going to go with something a bit left field and it’s a picture of our Jack Russell-poodle cross, Frankie, with a mate of my son called Sam. They are sitting on the couch together and Sam has a beer in his hand and Frankie is propped up on the couch, sitting there like he is just one of the boys. We’ve been blessed to have the best dogs in our life, and there are so many good pictures of them, but this one is the absolute stand out. Makes me smile and laugh every time I look at it.

What’s the best advice you’ve been given?
Don’t make five-year plans. Life is too unpredictable and whilst I appreciate the importance of setting goals, there are so many things that can change the course of your life (pandemic anyone?). If you are so hell bent on sticking to your long-term plans, you may miss amazing opportunities that may present themselves along the way. When I left a senior nursing position to go into business management, I never would have dreamed of being CEO of such an amazing and diverse organisation as estara for over 10 years.

Describe the best meal you’ve ever eaten.
Indian food is my favourite cuisine, and my favourite Indian meal was when Jackie, Tom and I had our first overseas trip together that started off in England. We were in Oxford, which is just the most beautiful city and we found this place in between the many colleges of Oxford University. The food was divine and if Oxford wasn’t 16,356km away from our home in Rostrevor, we would be frequenting that place regularly.

What are the best qualities of your favourite person?
My wife Jackie loves me, supports me, tolerates me and best of all, gets my sense of humour and reciprocates in spades. We laugh together so much. She also calls things as they are, no dilly dallying around the truth; she does it in a non-vindictive way, and I love her for it. She also loves dogs even more than I do and I couldn’t ask for a better mum to our son (and future mum-in-law to his girlfriend, Kiara).

Best five songs on your playlist?
Tire Me – Rage Against the Machine
Generator – Foo Fighters
Sunshower – Chris Cornell
Make the Call – Living End
Nessun Dorma – Jussi Bjorling (love you Mum)”