Across 33 years of marriage, Terry Lewis has lived by the philosophy that every day he needs to make his wife Vicki laugh at least once.
No matter if he's in the doghouse, so to speak, he'll attempt a dry crack to break the tension and draw a giggle.
More often than not, Terry succeeds. His sense of humour is legendary among friends and family.
Unfortunately, there has been little to laugh about for the Lake Macquarie family since November, when the 73-year-old was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND).
"You've got to laugh, hadn't you?" Terry says from his electric recliner in his Woodrising home.
"I said that right from the beginning. They might be able to shut your body down, but they're not going to take my sense of humour."
MND has weakened Terry's vocal cords and left him with a raspy voice, but the natural storyteller still spins a lively yarn.
The former photographer, in fact, played a pivotal role in bringing to life one of the Hunter's most iconic children's characters, Big Dog. The human-sized brown dog with floppy ears and rosy cheeks is arguably as recognisable as NRL stars Andrew Johns or Kalyn Ponga among Novocastrians.
For more than 40 years after the character's first iteration, Big Dog still gets tucked in every night on NBN television at 7.30pm, signalling to thousands of boys and girls in the Hunter that it's bed time.
Terry was 24 when he migrated to Australia from Luton, England, in 1976. After several years working as a photographer, Terry found himself at NBN Television in the station's old Mosbri Crescent studio.
His main role was taking still photographs for the marketing department and snapping pictures for graphics in TV news stories.
In 1982 NBN was at the Newcastle Show with Channel Nine character Humphrey B. Bear scheduled to entertain the kids.
"The young guy that was doing Humphrey at the time didn't show up," Terry says.
"He was supposed to make an appearance on our stand. So, they were all throwing their hands in the air. 'What were they going to do?' And I said, 'I'll do it', and never turned back."
Because Humphrey B. Bear's character wasn't owned by NBN, the network decided to create its own animal character to entertain children.
"We used to have one in the early days called Buttons, a cat," he says. "They were umming and ahhing about what to do, and we had some drawings done and some models made.
"They were going to go with a possum at one time, but in the end Prime [TV] got the possum years later.
"So I suggested to one of the guys that was doing the artwork, 'Why don't you just go with a dog? Every kid's either got a dog or wants a dog.'
"And that was it. So that's where Big Dog started."
Terry had a pivotal role in designing Big Dog's costume and creating the persona of a "cheeky little kid".
"There's a knack to moving in that costume," he says. "You have to keep moving. The moment you stand still, you're a stuffed toy.
"Every movement you make is five times the effort to translate it to the outside. So it's exhausting."
Terry would play Big Dog until 1986, appearing on the TV show Big Dog & Friends and doing various public appearances at schools, hospitals and charities.
"It was fantastic. It was a hoot," Terry says of working at NBN in the '80s when the organisation produced a variety of shows, not just the news bulletins.
"It was called the fun factory, and it really was. You'd get up in the morning and you'd look forward to going to work."
It was a role Terry also took very seriously. He could never be publicly seen without Big Dog's head.
During Weekender's visit to the Lewis' home, Vicki showed a rare photo of Terry wearing the suit while holding the head in his hands but was forbidden from publishing it because even 40 years later it would destroy "the illusion".
Playing Big Dog also introduced Terry to the love of his life, Vicki (nee Radnidge), originally from Kurri Kurri.
Vicki was 17 and working several nights a week as a jazz and cabaret singer while doing her Higher School Certificate when she accepted the job as host on Big Dog & Friends in 1986.
"We'd be doing the show [Big Dog & Friends] live to air on a Saturday morning and doing a few appearances, if there were any, on the weekend," Vicki says.
"I'd get back to school on Monday morning, head down on the desk. 'Have you been partying, Radnidge?' the teacher would say.
"'No, sir, I was working. Promise'. I didn't do very well in my HSC."
Working as a duo, the pair clicked immediately.
"We were mates from the very beginning," Vicki says. "I had a boyfriend that I was actually singing on the show with at the time, him playing piano and me singing."
The pair remained good friends after they both left NBN and later became romantically involved and married in 1992.
The pair have two children, Leif (29) and Georgia (25) and Terry has two sons Daniel (45) and Richard (43) from his first marriage.
Playing Big Dog took Terry all over the Hunter and even to Papua New Guinea. In the '80s NBN was investigating the acquisition of a TV licence in PNG and Big Dog was sent to Port Moresby on a public relations mission.
Big Dog proved a hit with adults in PNG, but Terry described the experience as "tap dancing in a sauna".
Terry also had an opportunity to work as a photographer on NBN's beloved nature series Beating Round The Bush, a precursor to Steve Irwin, hosted by Ian "Beat" Hill and Art "Poppa" Ryan.
Terry recalls a trip to bushland near Bulahdelah with Beating Round The Bush, where they wanted to film Monty the python striking its prey.
The only problem was when they arrived in the bushland and pulled out a lab rat they had brought for the filming, it was white.
It was exciting and fun. I hope people on the other end of what we were doing were enjoying it just as much.
"They said, 'Wait, hang on, we can't do this; it's a white rat," Terry laughs. "White rats don't occur naturally.
"Beat said, 'Hang on, we'll fix that.'
"There was ash from the fire, some red wine and crushed red grapes, and the fur was dyed.
"It looked a treat and must have smelt a treat because ... Monty grabbed it. It became the marinated rat story."
After leaving NBN in 1986, Terry continued to work in photography and as a children's entertainer.
He played characters like Rowdy Rabbit and Whiz the Clown and was known as the "human toon [cartoon]".
He's also indulged his passion for vintage motorbikes, restoring many vehicles, including his beloved Suzuki GT750.
He's a life member of the Newcastle Vintage Motorcycle Club and until last year published and edited its magazine.
But life started to change a year ago. Terry started losing weight rapidly, about 35 kilograms, which was initially attributed to pre-diabetes medication.
There was also a persistent muscle twitch in his leg that got progressively worse. Then came muscle spasms and weakness in his legs and it became difficult to speak.
Then on November 7 last year, he was diagnosed by a neurologist with motor neurone disease. MND affects nerves known as motor nerves, which carry messages from the brain to the muscles via the spinal cord to walk, talk, eat, swallow, and breathe.
There is no cure and the life expectancy from diagnosis is two or three years.
"Now we're just taking each day as it comes," he says.
The illness has been in the headlines lately with the death of AFL great Neale Daniher, 65, and the diagnosis of NRL star Jai Arrow, 30.
At the time of his diagnosis Terry was caring for Vicki, who has a connective tissue disorder, as well as helping his parents, who are both in their 90s.
"The diaphragm muscle is degraded now, so not only can he not breathe properly to take in enough oxygen, he can't breathe out enough to get rid of the CO2 [carbon dioxide]," Vicki says.
"Around Christmas he became frighteningly hypoxic. He had 52 on his oxygen levels and his CO2 is meant to be 40 or 50. He was a 108.
"He was seeing little men underneath the table. It was bad.
"Once they got the BiPAP (bilevel positive airway pressure machine) on him, it was back to his usual self again."
Terry has also been in hospital with bladder and bowel infections due to MND.
Both Terry and Vicki are very thankful for the support of Motor Neurone Disease NSW, which, since his diagnosis, has supplied an electric recliner, hospital bed, walker and motorised wheelchair.
On Sunday, June 28, the Lewis family are getting together for the Walk To Defeat MND at Speers Point Park. "Team Tezza" has already surpassed the initial goal of $2000.
Terry, health permitting, plans to be there in his motorised wheelchair.
Asked to reflect on his life, Terry, without hesitation, goes back to those years playing Big Dog. It was always more than a suit.
"It was the most fun I ever had in my life when we were doing that together [with Vicki]," he says.
"It was exciting and fun. I hope people on the other end of what we were doing were enjoying it just as much."
