A Story about getting on in life

In 1998 I was involved in a rather serious car accident, one that the only thing which stopped the car from exploding was the spare tyre that was punctured rather than the gas tank exploding.

I had been on the way to work – a reasonably new job of 3 months, I took 1 day off work to sort all the insurance out and report the accident to the police and go see the doctor.

For 8 years, I fought to keep a job, (where I was working forced me out - I should have sued, but it was all too much), I fought to keep my family together, my sanity and my house. We weren’t entitled to any government assistance due to issues with a failing business, TAC refused to pay any income support because my husband should have been able to help me home, not someone from the TAC. I told them time and time again, that he couldn’t leave apprentices in the factory – due to workcover regulations that could see him locked up in jail if the apprentices did something stupid – he would automatically get the blame.

So we struggled, we struggled to keep food on the table, we struggled to stay sane. We lived in a pigsty, because my back was too sore and I was too tired to do any housework, when I got home from paid work. I couldn’t lift my children. I had to work to pay the child care fees, because TAC wouldn’t pay the fees, and I couldn’t stay home AND afford to send the children to childcare. I barely had enough money to put food on the table. Work was the lesser of two evils.

I remember once asking the CES for $5-$10 so I could buy some potatoes (It’s amazing what you can do with potatoes) and they turned me away – I’ve never begged in my life – I didn’t know where to turn. We went hungry that night.

Things eased slightly when my youngest went to school. Still no permanent work – but at least no child care fees and people looked after me – loaned me money for work yet to be done, found me work. ‘Real’ employers didn’t want someone who couldn’t use their right arm sometimes, or walked with a limp.

Until recently, I didn’t have a permanent job – and I believe that was because of my disabilities.

Some 6 years later, just when I was starting to get my life back on track, another near fatal accident, which broke and crushed my leg. To this day the fibula is still broken.

Finally things started looking up – the bills get paid on time – the mortgage is paid up and beyond, finally we no longer need to scrimp and save just to have clothes and shoes to wear.

With perseverance I’ve come to realise that life is for living – I’ve had too many close calls not to realise this

You can move on – it takes time – it takes patience and most of all strength of character to succeed where others often fail.

Life is precious, family even more so and if you take one thing away from reading this – it is “Life continues with or without you, so make sure you are included, not excluded.”