Helping hand

By Lia Bichel
ANY single mum making her way through life with four children – all with health problems – has plenty of challenges to face.
And Vicky DaCosta, 40, says she couldn’t have made that journey without the help of a vital Berwick support service.
The Cranbourne resident said she was grateful to access Windermere’s Child and Family Services Biala Early Childhood Intervention program, which has received more than $30,000 in funding from The Good Guys in Narre Warren.
The funding has been used towards equipment, resources and staff to help more than 160 children and their families in the Casey area.
Ms DaCosta has rheumatoid arthritis and has had difficulties doing simple tasks such as doing up a seatbelt or changing a nappy, but said Biala was fantastic in providing her with resources and the encouragement to get by.
Her youngest daughter Jasmine has been utilising the various services available at the centre for about a year, and has already made vast improvements in her physical abilities.
Before Jasmine was born, Ms DaCosta said medical staff told her there was “no hope” for her unborn baby. When Jasmine was born prematurely at 24 weeks on 16 March 2009, she weighed only 526 grams.
She spent the first five months of her life in the neo-natal ward at the hospital, and another five months through admissions last year.
“It was heart-breaking for me. For the first five months Jasmine was in hospital I never knew if she was going to make it – I saw seven children who didn’t make it,” Ms DaCosta said.
“I have friends who have lost their babies. Jasmine is a miracle baby.”
Since Jasmine began at Biala, she has stopped using oxygen to breathe, is learning how eat through her mouth instead of a tube, and has been wearing therapy product TheraTogs to correct the alignment of her legs which turn inward.
Biala’s physiotherapist Tiffany Chan is an experienced consultant in TheraTogs.
Ms DaCosta said she was extremely grateful for the care and support she had received, not only with Jasmine, but with her son Kai, 10, who used the service for a year and a half before he turned five.
Kai has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Asperger Syndrome and Sensory Processing Disorder.
Ms DaCosta said she had difficulties at times with Kai, and had to use a harness on him for safety reasons.
“He would be an escape artist. He ran in front of buses five times and cars too many times to count. People would see the harness on him and tell me he wasn’t an animal or call me a bad mother, but they didn’t realise I was doing it for safety reasons,” she said.
“But then I would speak to people at Biala and they reassured me that it wasn’t me who was a bad mother. Kai had problems.”
Ms DaCosta’s oldest son Storm, 13, suffers from anxiety and eight-year-old daughter Paige also has health problems. Ms DaCosta said she wished she knew about Biala years ago so she could have sought professional help for Storm as well.
The Good Guys Narre Warren Store Manager Lindsay Harding said proprietor of the store Matthew Sheedy was the driving force behind raising funds for Biala, and they were proud the store could raise money for such important services in the community.
“It’s great to see anyone in the community (experiencing difficulties) to get on with their lives – especially young ones,” Mr Harding said.
The Good Guys Narre Warren has almost reached $40,000 in donations from its Local Giving Program – where the business makes a donation to nominated charities for every purchase made in store.
Of that, $33,928 has gone to Windermere Child and Family Services with a focus on their Biala Early Childhood Intervention program in Berwick. Money has also been donated to CF Research Unit at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food.