David's Story All I wanted to do there was learn to talk, full stop. I started off speech therapy once a day and even thought I couldn't speak, I told them in hand gestures that I wanted more. I had a newly qualified speech therapist. We learned together. It annoyed me that all the pictures we used were not Australian.   After four weeks I was transferred to the Stroke wing at the Repatriation Hospital. I spent the next 9 months there.   I had smoked 50-60 fags a day but I gave it up right away. They scanned my lungs and they were black when I went in but they were clear when I left.