With more than 20 years experience as a nurse, most recently as the Research Coordinator – Intensive Care at Wollongong Hospital, Bronwyn Johnson is very familiar with the world of medicine, disease and disability. But what happens when the practitioner becomes the patient? I meet Bronwyn in the living room of her suburban home. She greets me with a warm hug but there is wear....
My childhood was chaotic and marked by emotional and physical abuse. My father was unpredictable and controlling. I was a lonely child and would spend hours dressing up and pretending to be someone else. Unable to physically escape the instability of my home life I created an imaginary world where I was safe, happy and free. At 16 I was struggling with depression and bat....
When I was three my brother got really sick and the doctors thought that he might need something from my blood to help him get better. I had to have a big needle. I cried a lot but my dad bought me a toy and told me that I was very brave. I still have that toy. Sophia, 6....
Like most women, Nerralea Van Der Merwe is not a fan of having her photograph taken. But, after a breast cancer diagnosis at only 32, she made the courageous decision to not only have a double mastectomy but to allow a friend to photograph her scarred, post mastectomy chest. “Body image is something that most women deal with from early on, regardless of what happens in their ....
