NDIS gives Lacey a new approach to life

'Previously I would have said the support was not here in our region, but we just didn't know they were there'

FAMILY BONDS: Sharon Whitfield, Lacey and Matthew Amos on a day out. Picture: Contributed

DESPITE discovering Lacey Amos had cerebral palsy at age two, it never stopped her mother, Sharon Whitfield, from giving her the same opportunities as her siblings.

Lacey along with her elder siblings Matthew and Neliska, spent her childhood doing the same activities as most families - hiking, swimming and going to the beach.

The Barcaldine mother of three described her relationship with Lacey as "one of the closest mother-daughter relationships you could ever know”.

"Lacey hit all her normal milestones as a child, but she never walked, it took a little while, and we eventually found out she had cerebral palsy,” Ms Whitfield said.

"She did begin to walk a little bit, with the aid of a walking frame, but she eventually gave up on the walking and went into wheelchairs.

"Lacey did everything with us, whatever we did she came too, whether we had to carry her or piggyback her.”

Lacey attended mainstream school, even taking up swimming in her late teens, at one stage she held the 50-metre freestyle record for her class.

After the family moved from Mackay to Barcaldine, support was hard to come by.

In February 2018, Lacey, now 32, joined the National Disability Insurance Scheme and receives funding for support workers who visit the house four hours a day, five days a week.

Support workers Gillian and Rose spend time playing games with Lacey, a keen scrabble player, and take her out to socialise in the community.

"When you're on your own and you don't have many resources, it's very hard to get motivated to do all of these things,” Ms Whitfield said.

"Previously I would have said the support was not here in our region, but we just didn't know they were there.

"The support workers have opened Lacey up; she's out this morning with people in town, she goes to bingo and goes to the library and plays virtual reality games on their television.”

Lacey also receives funding for occupational therapy, physiotherapists to help with breathing and posture, and speech therapy to help with communication as she has now been non-verbal for 10 years.

"We've used some low-tech devices in the past to help her communicate, but with the speech therapist, they're going to help us with a speech program so Lacey will be able to use her eyes to work an iPad to speak to us,” Ms Whitfield said.

"Every one of our therapists is amazing, we haven't had this amount of therapy support since Lacey was about 12.”

In addition to the physical and social benefits, having extra support around the home has fostered independence for Lacey and strengthened her relationship with her mother.

"It's a lot of pressure off me to be there constantly with her. I get to go out and have a coffee with friends and we come back and have lunch together and have a beautiful afternoon. I can't describe it, we're enjoying each other's company a whole lot more,” Ms Whitfield said.

Lacey's support workers will be on hand this year when Ms Whitfield heads to Western Australia to help Neliska welcome her fifth child.

She would normally rely on family to help with Lacey.

"Someone has your back now, and we've got this lovely little support group behind you if something isn't going right,” she said.

"It gives me peace of mind to know I can go away and not have to worry.”

Originally published as NDIS gives Lacey a new approach to life