For Our Rose

To be grieving the loss of your child, dealing with the physical and emotional effects of a traumatic birthing, to be battling aggressive breast cancer, to have surgeries and scans and chemo in your veins.. to be travelling up and down the Coast visiting hospitals and doctors.. AND to try to keep your three young children feeling safe, unafraid and loved... and then to have to also worry about how to put food on the table and petrol in the car??? 

Well that is just unfathomable.

Six weeks ago my beautiful friend Rose, just turned 40, with three kids under the age of 6,  was barely coping with the debilitating morning sickness she always suffers when pregnant, and wondering how this 'surprise' pregnancy would effect her young family.

Now Rosie has birthed her fifth child, and buried her second.

Next she prepares for intensive chemotherapy, and the removal of both breasts that have nurtured her three surviving children, the youngest of whom is just 18 months old.

Last week Rose gave birth to her little man (named 'Rainbow' by her eldest daughter) at just 16 weeks gestation (yes, in order to avoid further weakening her immune system , Rose had to be induced and go through a full labour). As if that was not enough trauma, Rose is now grappling with how to prepare herself (and her family) for the gruelling physical and emotional toll of a double mastectomy and months and months and rounds of chemotherapy.

Our Rosie, who lives life to the fullest with her ragtag bunch of kids and husband trailing all over the world, experiencing all the art, dance, spirit and love the world has to offer... and giving these experiences to her kids in spades... This Rosie who has felt so much pain and sorrow in her own life yet heals with her hands, an accomplished acupuncturist and masseuse, a builder of community - one who has been there for other women and other families through the loss of their children, through their sicknesses and their triumphs. The woman with the strongest backbone, the practical and direct speaker.. the deep thinker. The incredible cook and maker of delectable desserts.. THAT's our Rose.

 Our Rosie has aggressive breast cancer.. and she has SO much to live for.

PLEASE HELP US SUPPORT ROSIE AND HER FAMILY.

Cris has been unable to work since Rose first started suffering her morning sickness. Now with the loss of Rainbow, and with Rose's intensive cancer treatment it will be many months' and SO much grieving for the whole family before he can return to work to support them. They live simply, but Rose's medical treatment and her dietary needs will be great, and costly. They are determined to maintain a sense of normalcy for the kids, but to be there as the children also grapple with the world of hospitals and illness and sickness that Rosie is about to enter.

PLEASE GIVE ANYTHING YOU CAN TO HELP MY BEAUTIFUL FRIEND fight her way through this.  She is afraid but she is strong. She wants to be here to raise those kids up into the peace warriors they are meant to be. With the loving support of her community, those of us who love her and hold her up.. we who are her father and mother now that she has lost them.. we who are sisters and her brothers.. it is OUR time to support this incredible woman. PLEASE GIVE GENEROUSLY in anyway you can. If you cannot give yourself, PLEASE share this on Facebook and ask your friends and family to donate.

Rosie is a young vibrant mother, with three young children and a loving husband to live for. She needs your help with the biggest fight of her young life.

Before all this happened, together with her husband Cris, she was tenderly (but organically!) raising her three young children, slowly building a wild house in the hills of Mullumbimby and through her own love and determination, building a strong community around her little family. But their family has been touched by loss befor

Six years ago Rose and Cris lost their first child Tess. After a perfectly normal and healthy pregnancy, Tess's birth was mishandled by the hospital resulting in Tess having a level of brain damage that meant that at just 10 days old, Rose and Cris had to make the devastating decision to turn off Tess' life support and let their baby girl die in their arms. They brought Tess home and buried her, and commenced the long road towards healing the deepest wound one can imagine.. the loss of a child. 

Less than three months after Tess' death, Rose lost her beloved father to cancer. Ed had raised her and her brother as a sole parent all her life after Rose's mother succumbed to a level of mental illness that she has never come back from.

Over time, Rose and Cris went on to have three more beautiful kids. First Ruby, now a wild and brave 5 year old.. both fearless and fairy, creative and kind and the first step in healing her mother's fear of birthing and rearing children.  Next, Eddie, the 'almost 4' year old tough-talking stubborn little bruiser, named after his grandfather but bearing so much of his mothers' determined countenance. Lastly and lately, Millie, another tough 'take no prisoners' child. 18 months old now and scrapping around with her older siblings demanding they pay attention to her and involve her in their games. Millie will fix you with a stare from across the room and you will know ! ... and you will obey!

And then.. Rosie is 13 weeks pregnant and a lump is found in her breast. And here she is. Here we are. Asking for your help.  We are all scared. Rose is scared. But she has SO much to fight for. Please help her fight.