Free to Be Me

By Telling My Story I Hope To Help People Suffering Adversity And Severe Depression. This Problem Has Been With Me Since My Early 20'S I Have Spent Several Periods In Hospital Also Having E.C.T I Am Still On A Lot Of Medication. We Moved From Sydney To Broke In The Hunter Valley Firstly Growing Raspberries To Supply The Restaurants And Eventually Having An On-Farm-Shop. I Also Made Chutneys And Jams From Our Fruit Trees And Extensive Vegetable Garden. Although We Had Apricots Figs Pears And Table Grapes The Raspberries Developed A Diseases So We Had To Look To Another Venture. We Researched And Eventually Planted Olive Trees. We Were Foundation Members Of The Hunter Valley Olive Association; I Also Travelled To California Argentine Spain And Italy For Further Research. We Sold The Farm And Bought A Huge Home On Lake Macquarie From Tree Change To Sea Change. The Marriage Was Very Rocky And I Was Very Unhappy. We Then Bought A Restaurant Which Brought A Whole Lot Of New Stress And Problems. In 2003 I Suffered A Stroke Was In An Induced Coma For Four Months And When I Regained Consciousness I Was Blind. My Husband And Children Put Me In A Nursing Home I Was Only 56 Years Old. It Was Awful. Apart From Loss Of Vision I Was Suffering No Other Effects From The Stroke. The Family Sought No Help For Me So I Initiated Seeing An Eye Surgeon. The Result Was I Regained My Sight. I Was Indeed A Medical Miracle. I Went Back Home But Life Was Terrible. I Was Working With Two Social Workers Who Described My Situation As Domestic Violence Not Physical But Emotional. Eventually One Morning I Rang My Three Children In Sydney And Told Them I Was Leaving Not One Said Mum I Will Come And Get You. I Rang A Friend Who Would Pick Me Up But I Could Only Stay A Couple Of Nights. After Contacting One Of The Social Workers I Ended Up In A Women'S Refuge Firstly In Muswellbrook Then Lane Cove In Sydney. For 7 Years I Have Been In A Retirement Village And Am Extremely Happy. I Rarely Have Contact With My Three Children And Six Grand Daughters. This Hurts A Great Deal. They Don'T Seem To Value Me But My Many Friends And Activities Make A Very Full And Happy Life. I Am At Last 'Free To Be Me'. Maggie