I think he has a few degrees and could have taken a two year deal with us at the end of last year but opted for one in the event he did not get enough game time to warrant continuing
In terms of professionalism, effort and as a role model I am not sure Callan could have given us more
Mad dash: Callan to hospital, Picken to Australia
By Jennifer Witham
9:41 AM Thu 28 Oct, 2010
A RECENT venture to India almost ended in disaster for former Western Bulldogs defender Tim Callan after his peanut allergy became inflamed in Bangalore.
Callan, who recently retired after 34 AFL games, was on tour with Bulldogs Will Minson and Liam Picken as part of a charity mission for Red Dust Role Model's Indian partnership.
He was at the Test cricket match between Australia and India with his former teammates when, despite enquiries into the contents of a fish curry, he unwittingly ingested nuts.
"Within two minutes he started to swell up," Picken told afl.com.au.
"He felt this tingle on his tongue and within 10 minutes he was showing signs and said, 'We need to go back to the hotel right now'."
The 26-year-old self-administered a dose of medication through his EpiPen but it didn't have the desired effect.
"We got a hotel car and got him to hospital, and on the way his face and throat started to swell more," Picken said.
"Will and myself had never experienced this before so we just wanted to get him to hospital. He was pretty calm himself.
"We went to this little Indian hospital and the doctors were really good and got him some medication straight away and stabilised him."
Callan was left with a mere $5 hospital bill and a swollen face as a reminder of his second brush with the allergy in 18 months.
Soon after the incident, Picken was met with difficulties of a different nature when he happened to check his email account.
The Bulldogs had contacted the 24-year-old about the possibility of representing Australia in the International Rules Series that was soon to kick off in Ireland.
'Yes' was Picken's response and he changed his flights so he could join the team before its departure to Cork.
"I got to Australia on Thursday, trained Friday and then flew out on Saturday so I was still catching up on sleep," he said.
"I flew to Mumbai, which was another five hours and I spent a day there. It took 27 hours via Bangkok and Hong Kong - then another 30 hours to London.
"It nearly killed me. I spent over 60 hours in airports but it was good to just to Ireland in the end."
Picken missed out on the last two days of his life-changing Indian adventure, in which the players spent time handing out sporting equipment in some of the poorer parts of the country.
"It's pretty confronting. You go in and the house is just one room and that's all. They live off 50 rupees a day when they're on the street, which is about a dollar Australian," he said.
"It's a different world. It's opened my eyes up a lot. I haven't really been overseas much. I've been to America and Hong Kong but this was a totally different culture.
"It was good to get out and do a bit of work."
http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsartic...2/default.aspx
Thanks for always giving us 100% Tim and good luck with the rest of your life. I hope that he recovers quickly from this episode in India - frightening stuff.