Sea rescue commander Damien Healy is used to responding to life-threatening emergencies on the water.
But Mr Healy, from Geraldton, is recovering from a second medical emergency of his own this year.
The first was a violent assault; the second, a brain tumour.
Tumour found
Mr Healy said doctors initially spotted what looked like "thickening" on his skull after a football game in 2014. A PET scan found it was a lesion.
Then, early this year, Mr Healy was attacked outside his home. Police suggested he should have his facial bones checked for fractures.
The lump in his head was found to be a tumour.
A neurosurgeon removed the mass at St John of God Hospital in Murdoch.
It was benign but had the potential to cause life-altering problems.
"The neurosurgeon … said it would get bigger eventually over time and I would start to get issues like weakness or balance issues or headaches," Mr Healy said.
"He said it was better to get it out when it was smaller."
Still volunteering
Mr Healy is now recovering at his Geraldton home, and has a large scar along his hair line.
While it will be at least three months before he can skipper the rescue boat, he is helping the group's radio communications from his Wandina home.
Mr Healy said he felt grateful for the medical tests he had received.
While the brain surgery had the most visible scars it was a colonoscopy, carried out when he was 45, that he believed really saved his life.
"I thought something was not right in my body, I had some bleeding and I said [to the doctor] I wanted a colonoscopy just to check," Mr Healy said.
"It turned out I actually had some polyps and there was a tumour in one of them.
He encouraged other people to get tests for cancer as soon as there is a sign of trouble and praised the Cancer Council's Find Cancer Early campaign, which he said had motivated him to ask for a colonoscopy.
