How the pain of losing one of her twin sons has driven a Brisbane mum to chase her dreams
Kelly Luckman lost one of her sons just days after he was born. Honouring his memory has helped drive her success as a businesswoman and now as a children’s author.
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Two weeks after Kelly Luckman and her husband Kris started a removalist company she had to rush to hospital – she was in labour despite being months away from her due date.
An hour later she gave birth to twin boys, Oskar and Oli, at just 24 weeks pregnant on Christmas Eve 2015.
Oli passed away on New Year’s Day.
Ms Luckman spent more than four months coming and going from the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit, all the while trying to make their new business work.
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Now she has used the success of the company, and the break that the COVID-19 pandemic provided, to write three children’s books with plans for 17 more.
“I’ve had these children’s books in my head for years and when we had to cancel a holiday because of COVID, I decided this was the time for me to chase my dream,” she said.
“I wrote three books in a week and found an illustrator to work with.”
Oskar’s Adventures, written for her son Oskar and dedicated to Oli and the staff at the RBWH who looked after her and her sons when they were born, will be released later this year.
When Ms Luckman fell pregnant they started Good Move Removals to give themselves more flexibility and work for themselves.
“Being my own boss meant I had the ability to go to hospital as much as I had to at that time,” she said.
“It’s meant I can follow my dreams for my son and honour the memory of the little angel I lost.”
Four years later the business is thriving with multiple moving trucks and employing dozens of people and Ms Luckman has been named as a finalist for the AusMumpreneur awards.
She said without that flexibility she would not have been able to spend so much time at the hospital. And she would not have been able to chase her lifelong dream – writing children’s books.
Oskar’s Adventures are available at Ms Luckman’s website.
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