Mark Volling

Born in January 1978 in Central Qld, with PKU, and the only one within 500klms, well before mobile phones, internet, and the wonders of the now taken for granted technology, communications with Doctors & Dietitians were only by post or home phones, (and those expensive trunk line calls). Mark attended his first PKU clinic in Brisbane at the age of 8 years, this also included the Xmas party.

As a baby of 5 weeks old (took this long to send and receive heel prick results), he was started on Lofenalac milk formula and progressed to a combination of Aminogran Food Supplement and Aminogran Mineral mix, Ketovite liquid and PKU tablets. In 1988 he started on Maximum XP, which was great as this was more of a complete formula.

Mark started Grade 1 in 1984, at the small school in the farming area where my husband and I still live. There were under 40 students in the entire school throughout his primary education, which I think made it easier to control his diet and educate his fellow students on the “he can’t have” items, focusing on learning, play and sports, not food.

He attended Rockhampton State High School, with over 1,000 students, but by now he knew what he could and couldn’t have, completed Year 12, and sport was rowing in the Fitzroy River for Rockhampton High School, a sport he enjoyed. He got his car and motorbike licence during this time.

Achievements: -

Senior Certificate – 1995

Graphic Design/Artist –T.A.F.E – 1997

Diploma of Graphic Art – 2001

Bachelor of Social Science @ QUT -2006

Graduate Diploma Psychological Science – CQU 2015

Masters of Social Science – Griffith University – 2021.

During his studies he worked as a labourer at a limestone quarry, grounds keeper; life saver at a swimming pool, and has a small dog washing business.

How amazing the research and developments that have taken place with the PKU diet. There were no products like pastas, rice, crackers, biscuits, bread etc when Mark was born, and indeed companies producing dietary products, I was simply given two foolscap pages, one with protein values of fruit and the other of vegetables. In 1986 we were given a prescription for bread mix to be collected from the Rockhampton Base Hospital and I thought this was wonderful.

Mark is now 43 years of age, lives in the Greater Brisbane area, married for over 12 years and has two daughters, neither PKU. He has classic PKU and on 10 grams of phenylalanine a day, and as you can see I’ve become redundant of the PKU diet many, many years ago, as he moved to Brisbane in his very early twenties.

Regards to all, Janice Volling (Mum).