We all know the saying, ‘charity begins at home’. At this difficult time, we appreciate this is even more important. We could just say that every donation helps but, as a charity that is dependent upon donations, we would like to tell you how your dollars and cents are spent.
On 28 December 2016, our 25th wedding anniversary, we received a phone call from a friend to say our 21½ year-old daughter, Harriet had had an accident. A branch from a gum tree had fallen. We found ourselves at Westmead Hospital in Sydney.
My family has been farming our property near Warren for over 100 years. Country people are notoriously poor at asking for assistance and are reluctant
to accept it. By necessity we have had to be self-reliant. Limited and misleading media coverage has sometimes left me feeling misunderstood and increasingly
isolated. The lack of access to services and resources has further heightened this feeling of isolation.
I’m writing this at home while in isolation as I imagine, many of you are. My mother Rae, aged 98, is not so many kilometres away although I’m only able to see her through the closed window of her nursing home room.
There is no right or wrong way to live with grief, there is only your way. Until you have experienced grief yourself, you are unlikely to understand its depth and complexities. Someone might tell you to take it one day at a time. You might find you can only manage one breath at a time.
