Sarah McLeod. This Is My Online Story…

Over a couple decades ago I was driving busses when a toutist from NSW, in a red Mitsubishi stationwagon with a mottled roof, was sight seeing in front of my bus. I pulled up at a bus stop and another bus passed me. He was now following that car and suddenly it stopped. We both had to pull up very quickly. I did not hit the bus and all my People were warned to hold on, they were all fine, but I had a massive whiplash as the bus dipped and bounced back.

To cut it short, I damaged 3 disks in my neck and tore the back of my left eye that day. It required epiretinal surgery in Launceston and even though I only had surgery on one eye, I ended up with vertially no sight. I sat talking with my Dad after we got back, he lived all the way down at Gorden. I could not see him from one end of the table to the other, so he moved opposite me. “What are You going to do now?” he said. My only answer was I could still see the computer.

I had to move closser to Hobart, after all I could not expect my Dad to drive all that way with all the appointments I still had. The Woman’s Shelter found a place for me, no cooking and easy to get help. I learnt to use a Blind Cane and about 6 months later I was back driving again. Dad had got me a car and when he pulled up… It was a red Mitsubishi stationwagon with a mottled roof, same model as the one that caused my Sight Loss.

I packed that stationwagon and took off for the Mainland. My 4th kid, a Daughter lived in Seymore in Victoria. All was well, I had a Unit built in her back yard. Then one night I was on the phone to her older sister, she had gone to check on her girls. The newborn twins slept next to their 16 year old brother and when she returned to say let me know if they wake, she found him purple on the floor.

We all were St John Ambulance workers then, and I talked her through resus untill the Ambulance arrived, but it was too late, his heart valve had failed. I had to access my Super so we could go back to Tasmania for the Funeral.

While I was there I visited my Dad. He had lost a fair bit of weight. The Doctor had sat for 6 months knowing Dad had a Melanoma and by the time he did something it had spread. I had a mark on my leg from years of intence sunlight shining in the window while driving the buses. He asked me to get a biopsy when I got home which I did.

Only weeks later We were heading back to Tasmania. My Dad had had lapsed into a coma, he was skin and bone and a few days later he died from that Melanoma. When I arrived home I got my results. It was a Melanoma, the very same thing that had just killed my Dad… What a shock.

I thought if I was going to die, I would go to Queensland to an Internet Summit and enjoy my time while I could. I came back knowing that building Websites was what I wanted to do. I had 2 surgeries on that leg before it was gone and another on my hand.

While I was recovering my younger Sister came over from Tasmania, she had Bowel Cancer, but she was determined we would go down to Melbourne on the Train daily, we ended up stayed at the backpackers for a night, then go back down every second day. Like me she wanted to make the most of the time she had left.

A few months later my two sisters came over to Melbourne, hoping the Cancer Specialist at the Hospital could help her, but we all knew it was too late. We all layed in the Hotel room after and I felt Dad around, Katie said I just seen Dad and our younger sister just thought we were crazy. I knew then they were waiting for her.

You would think that would be the end of it, but then Dad’s Brother got Bowel Cancer, just after his Wife died of Breast Cancer. Luckily he and I are the survivers.

The 12 months had passed which was the requirement for having the unit at my Daughters then she informed me she was going to Queensland. I had to find somewhere to live, so I took the remainder of my Super and brought a Transit so I could deck it out as a camper.

The guy I brought the Transit from allowed me to stay in his yard until she was ready. Solar Pannels, portable internet and basic facilities. But on the night I moved to his second yard, he put his camper outside to make way for mine and that night it and 6 other vehicles were fire bombed.

The firebrigade were trying to get to me but I was a mess, how much more could a single person take. I had started building a few websites again. It was a scourcher of a day and I got called to help, so I sat the laptop on the bed while it was downloading PLR and half an hour I came back and the Macbook was literally cooked.

That was the final straw, I had to return to Tasmania. My Mum was not well and nor was I. She had cancer on one lung, a huge cyst that they could not remove, then she was gone.

The van was very cosy, but living on the Streets was scary. My Daughter organized a Housing Place in Moonah. I had brought computers and was working on websites. I had Mentors by then and they were organising an Expo in Orlando. So I took the trip, had a ball of a time, expo, lunches, nightclubs and a poolside BBQ. By the time I cam home I was barely walking.0o0

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