Mum’s the world

By Lia Bichel
Vodafone will provide funds of up to $80,000 directly to the Ms Howell’s charity of choice, Limbs 4 Life, and in turn, Limbs 4 Life will pay Ms Howell to work for them for one year.
Ms Howell became involved with Limbs 4 Life after giving birth to her son Jack, who was born without his left hand. Limbs 4 Life is an organisation set up to support amputees by providing up-to-date information and formalised peer support.
“I started helping other families through my experience with my son. When my son Jack was born missing his left hand, I had no access to any support. When he was one-year-old, I started seeking support through occupational therapy and physiotherapy to get the most out of his hand,” she said.
“I was referred to the Royal Children’s Hospital, met other families in the same situation and I provided them with support and advice.”
Ms Howell hopes to establish the first inclusive Australian amputee children and youth service to work alongside medical staff and hospitals through a referral program.
She aims to help amputee children to improve their mental health and to view their body image in a positive manner and provide better support to parents and families by putting them in contact with other people in similar situations.
Ms Howell hopes to help parents learn how to handle grief, concerns, issues, and build adaption and successes to benefit the children in need.
Ms Howell, who is a mother to Jack, 7, and Alyssa, 4, said she was excited to work full-time after juggling volunteer work at Limbs 4 Life with her motherhood duties.
“I am so excited. It was difficult to work full-time because I had been volunteering with Limbs 4 Life about three times a week and it takes up a lot of my time,” she said. “But now I can take a year and work and give 100 per cent of my time to Limbs 4 Life. If I continued to volunteer it would have taken a few years to have a support service fully set up, but now I can have a service set up and running in a year.”