![]() ![]() She can put her own arms on.Pete Wicks takes savage swipe at CGD co-star Sam Thompson after signing up to second series I’ll be like, “Oh my god, I have to, like, put your legs on now! Like, shit, okay.” But she’s also quite self-sufficient. I don’t like it when I’m late for the train. I don’t mind the other aspects of caring for her. Running through my head was a lot of: “Why me? Why do I have to do it? I’m a teenage daughter.” The very first time, I just wanted to call someone and complain about it. I said to myself: “I need to not be so annoying”. “We’re closer now, but can hurt each other emotionally. If I’d go down in tears, she’d talk me through it, but I just wanted a hug. ![]() Before we moved to Burnley, I don’t know if I felt listened to or supported enough. Mum also likes to provide a solution: Dad doesn’t, he listens. When Mum wasn’t here, I had to step in and bossed my sisters around, so now I can critique how Mum’s doing something, especially towards my sisters. We’re similar people and know how to push each other’s buttons. Our relationship was pretty rocky: constant fights. The decision to move to Melbourne was huge. I saw her struggle, which made me … pity isn’t the right word, but I empathised. As I got older, I became more aware of what she has to deal with. Over time, I got used to it, but I’ve never exactly grown out of being a little annoyed at needing to look after Mum. It was just so different she needed help with everything. When she came home, I didn’t like it at all: she tried to change everything. I remember going to hospital and seeing her in a coma with all of her wires and what-not. I looked after my sisters and opened one present – it was, like, Lego or something – and Dad said a family friend would look after us. But I remember on weekends we had a little tea-set and we’d drink weakened tea with lots of sugar at the white table.Įarly on my ninth birthday, an ambulance came to the house and took Mum. We had a small white table, and I’d always be at that for dinners because I wasn’t allowed to eat with the family if I’d done something wrong. ![]() ![]() SAMANTHA: If I’m really honest, my early memories of Mum involve a lot of being told off. Almost immediately, one fell out, so I had to wait for Sam to return from school to put it back in. One day, I was trying to record for my podcast and my carer put my earbuds in before she left in the morning. I’ve pushed myself to do things alone, like getting into a wheelchair to go to the toilet at night so I don’t wake Sam, but I still need help. We moved on Melbourne Cup weekend last year. But you want your kids to be happy and if that takes moving house and leaving half your family behind, you do it. It was a massive decision because Rod’s my safe space. We chose a school in St Kilda and since Rod’s business is in Kilmore, it’s easier for me to live with Sam on weekdays. For a number of years, Sam was unhappy at her school and wanted to go somewhere else. In primary school, they put on football days: why not netball days, she asked. I’m the one who listens to her after school and, when I’m struggling, I’m learning to show her the tears.” We made it to hospital, but she told me off for not calling an ambulance. Once we went to Melbourne for a show – a mother-daughter treat – and a blood vessel in my kidney exploded. I watched videos with pride: there’s no way in hell I’d have done that at 14. When Sam was 14, she travelled to the World Scout Jamboree in Washington, D.C. I’ve relied on Rod to shower and dress me, do my hair and make-up, and put my legs on every morning. I can cook vegetables, but can’t butter toast. I can pick up a strawberry but not an egg. Now I use prosthetic legs – basically glorified, highly engineered pirate legs – and my hands are robotic. I came home from hospital 10 months later and went from being a busy, full-time mum to being parked in a wheelchair on the other side of the kitchen bench. When I woke up 10 days later, my hands and feet were black and later, my arms were amputated below the elbow and my legs below the knee. I was taken to hospital on the dawn of Sam’s birthday and put into a coma. Just before Sam turned nine, I contracted sepsis through a streptococcal infection. After Sam, I had two more daughters – Isobel and Tess – so life as a stay-at-home parent was intense. I was the helicopter parent and she was just pushing back. At seven, she needed to put her stamp on stuff. She was hungry: I didn’t have enough breast milk. I was done with my corporate sales career and loved being a new mum.Īs a baby, Sam cried and cried. MANDY: Sam, my first child, came along when I was 30, just after my husband Rod and I moved to Kilmore. Mandy and Samantha McCracken: “Running through my head was a lot of: ‘Why me? Why do I have to do it? I’m a teenage daughter.’” Credit:Elke Meitzel ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |