Helena’s Story
I remember the exact time and place when my world fell apart – I was 16 in a car with my mum and she told me she’d found a “lump”. In one fell swoop my centre of gravity stopped revolving around me in my life as a selfish teenager as it dawned on me how important this special woman was to me, and tried to contemplate what these words would mean. I had a happy upbringing growing up in the countryside – I am the youngest of three children – the only girl with a gap of seven years between me and my next brother, and I think it would be fair to say I was allowed to get away with much more than my older brothers! I was most definitely a tomboy, far more into wrestling than playing with Barbies so my Mum was usually only acting as a referee when I pushed a brother too far and got a punishment in return. Due to the age gap though I spent most of my …