By Margaret Maccoll
In the lead-up to Mother’s Day, Noosa Today spoke to Sunrise Beach celebrant Natalie Skye as she reflected on motherhood.
For Natalie being a mother is “to live in the moment and to enjoy every bit of time you have, being grateful for the gift of motherhood”.
“It’s an awesome journey and a beautiful gift. It’s tough at times and you question yourself,” she said.
“I don’t think anything teaches you more than being a mum.”
At 17 months of age, Natalie’s five-year-old daughter, Velvet, had a stroke.
“She was paralysed down the right side of her body. I found her at 5am in her cot,” she said.
Doctors told Natalie the stroke was caused by a blood clot in her brain that resulted from an infection in her heart. They said Velvet would never walk or talk again. Soon after her stroke Velvet was diagnosed with a growth in her heart and needed open heart surgery to remove it. She began having seizures and three months later was diagnosed with epilepsy.
Natalie said with help from disability support and services organisation Sunshine Butterfly, Velvet received the continuing rehabilitation she needed.
“Velvet is a happy, fun loving girl. She goes to Tewantin State School. She has seizures but she wears a helmet to school and has a teacher’s aide shadowing her.
“It’s different when you have a child with extra needs. It was a major trauma that happened in our lives. It broke up our marriage.”
Natalie said lessons learnt from her mother and grandmother instilled a positive attitude in her. “When life throws you these curve balls, it’s how you deal with it, your attitude that matters.
Natalie’s mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis five months after Velvet’s stroke.
“My mum has been a huge inspiration to me. She’s unstoppable, and my grandmother as well. She’s an extraordinary woman. Just after mum was born, grandma’s husband was killed in a car accident by a drunken driver. She only had one love, and she raised two children by herself. She just dealt with it as best she could. Now, she’s 86 and still backpacks and has art exhibitions.”
