Never Give Up, Never Give In - By Carol Homer
My son was born on the April, 17, 1983. He was very premature weighing only 3lb. 8ozs. We lived in a country town and it was obvious to the doctor at the delivery that he was having problems breathing so he was transported to the Royal Children’s Hospital at Camperdown within hours of his birth.
He was put under the care of Dr Andrew Berry and when I got out of hospital at West Wyalong I headed straight for him. I didn’t know about Cystic Fibrosis at that time and I thought it was just due to his premature birth that he was not doing so well. Dr Berry took me aside and explained to me all about CF, or as much as I could take in. I was devastated. What on earth is this disease that could take my baby from me. I went through all the emotions, guilt, why me, why him, but with counselling from the nursing staff and doctors I knew I had to just knuckle down and learn and boy, did I learn.
I learnt how to do physio from Pam and how to administer the necessary medicines and vitamins. This was extremely hard for me, as I very rarely took an aspirin and here I was giving my baby all these pills and potions. The difficult part in all this is that I was a single mother who had to rely on country facilities which were not up to date on CF - they did their best but being 6-8 hours from Sydney there were some terrifying times. Being on my own seemed quite hopeless at times. I was lucky to have my brother and sister- in- law next door who were a great backstop for me and if it wasn’t for my sister- in- law, Wendy I would have gone mad.
In time we had visits to the local medical centre from Dr Wal Grigor who was a paediatrician at RAHC he became my life line and I am and always will be grateful to him and to Dr John Brown for their concern and all the help during a new and very terrifying time.
Dr John Brown was the most contactable specialist I have ever encountered, he gave me his home phone number and I could ring him anytime I was worried. Never once did he not talk to me about any of my concerns. Dr John Brown is one of the great Australians and he should be nominated for Australian of the Year.
We had more than a few hospital visits but as Aaron got older and took up tennis and all things sports things got better. Aaron will be 24 years old this April living his own life and enjoying it in Maryborough QLD. He still has the odd hospital admission but has been very lucky with always having a great doctor there for him.
The doctors who had a lasting impact on Aaron and I are Dr John Brown, Dr Wal Grigor, who took care of us at the RAHC, Dr Peter Cooper at Westmead, and Dr Scott Bell in Brisbane’s Prince Charles Hospital. I’d also like to fondly mention Elaine Breed, who was the CF nurse assigned to us who always kept me laughing.
It’s funny how things go round. I always told Aaron to never give up and never give in so it was pleasing to see that inscription on the caps that are on sale with the proceeds going to the transplant fund at Prince Charles Hospital.
During one of the many times when Aaron was an in patient and very ill, it kept coming back to me what I had been told by someone in the past. This was that the CF patient’s life expectancy was 10 years old. When you have been in hospital three or four times a year it becomes a very large weight on your shoulders. One time I was in the parents lounge in a terrible state when a mother came and sat by me and asked if I wanted to talk. I just blurted all my fears out to this complete stranger. She just looked me in the eye and said everyone has a purpose on this earth and God decided to give me my son because he knew I could care for him, in another’s care the outcome would not be so good.
That lady turned my thoughts and outlook around and we have never looked back.
“Never give up and never give in”.
