Julie and Wendy – Sisters and Besties (1970s)
My name is Julie and I’m Wendy’s slightly younger sister. Wendy was born with Down syndrome and typical with the time in the late 1960s an inoperable congenial heart disease
We are sisters with a very special and powerful bond. The love I have for Wendy is different and exceeds my own comprehension, she is my inspiration, motivation, a measure of character, a confidant, buddy, and I would quite simply do anything for her.
I knew from around the age of four that if Wendy ever needed looking after that I would be there for her. As I grew older and fully understood her health issues and lived fearfully through her health complications I realized it was unlikely she would live long enough.
However as medicine developed and Wendy survived against all the odds of each health issue, again I knew; I would one day look after her.
In July 2014 Wendy moved in with my husband Andrew and I and our two youngest kids Hamish and Angus. The older two had recently moved out of home.
Wendy moved in because our Mother had advanced significantly in her, then still undiagnosed Alzheimers. (Mum just didn’t want to acknowlege what was happening to her and go through the tests – but we knew) Her condition deteriorated rapidly and we lost her on my birthday November 2017.
My aim in this decade is to write Wendy’s story, weaving extracts from our Mums diaries, my own memories of growing up with a very sick sister and our overseas travel escapades as they unravel with Wendy’s humor interjected throughout.
This blog is to be a place to share Wendy’s life from here on in. She has thrived and grown in so many ways after moving out of home at the age of 45 it has been a very liberating time for her.
We live in Victoria Australia, Andrew and I have 4 adult kids, we have a business designing, importing and selling trampolines. The flexibility I have to be able to work from home at times to support Wendy is most helpful and being able to have her in our workplace is also good for her too.
We are most grateful to being a part of the National Disability Insurance Scheme – NDIS with a plan and programs with suport for various aspects of Wendys life taken care of, so that she can participate in activities and be as social as she wants to be; which is very social.
Hope you will enjoy getting to know us both as we share some of our past but mainly what is yet to come.
I'm lucky aren't I... 