“That’s where all the damage got done to me, a lot of bad stuff happened there. I was in my 20s.” Rae is now writing a book on her experience as a nurse in Papua New Guinea, as a
Rae is thriving
path to “healing.” When returning to
Australia, Rae was faced with homelessness in the middle of a sweltering Australian summer. She also has epilepsy, with seizures being triggered by heat and stress, both of which she was particularly vulnerable to when experiencing homelessness. Rae’s support worker at NEAMI set her up with Housing Choices Australia, and she moved into a social housing apartment in 2013. Devastatingly, while Rae was no longer experiencing homelessness, she suffered domestic violence in her new residence, which only worsened during the COVID-19 lockdowns. In May 2021, Rae was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer. She had lost hope. “I said, I’m not having treatment, why would I? There’s no reason to live … There’s no hope, I’ve lived here, the place is killing me … There’s just no reason to live,” Rae says. The day after refusing treatment, Housing Team Leader, Zoy rang Rae and let her know there’s a Housing Choices unit in Nunawading waiting for her. She said yes immediately and called the oncology nurse straight after to arrange cancer treatment. In the space of ten days, Rae had surgery, and moved all
Above: Rae in her garden with one of her paintings.
Sunlight streaming through the greenery, Rae’s beautiful garden invites guests into her little slice of paradise. Walking through to her home, the walls are covered in all her beautiful and bright artistic creations. Growing up, Rae’s parents were both Ministers in the Salvation Army, and she spent much of her childhood moving around Australia. Her love of gardening came from time with her father spent in the garden. “We’d eat from the garden. You’d see all the colours of the garden and observe nature,” Rae says. Yet Rae had never dabbled in art – something she always
wanted to try but never had the support to do. “I got moved around and I never got to do art, ever … At one school the art teacher wouldn’t let me in because I was left-handed … It was the school I was at the longest, and she sent me outside while everyone else did art. So, I taught myself to crochet.” As Rae shares her story, a crochet ‘happy blanket’ she’s making her friend is by her side. She’s been working on it for the last few weeks. Rae used to work as a registered nurse and spent three years working in Papua New Guinea. Her time there led to chronic PTSD.
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