My life as a carer

Hello friends. My name is Mohammad and I’ve been a carer since my grandmother and grandfather lived with us. They both had terminal illness with my nan having Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and died in 2013 and my pop had bowel cancer and died in 2010. I was only 10 then.

By the time they both passed, I had to be a carer and help my mum with my older sister who has bipolar, body dysmorphia and ADHD and is always suicidal. Then mum adopted my other sister who is also a troubled teen and has low self-esteem and is tremendously suicidal.

After all those years I had trouble with school and interacting with friends. Numerous times police would attend our property as my older sister would smash everything around the house while she has her attacks. I’m sad that mum had to pick up the pieces. It was totally impossible to concentrate and I became very isolated for some years before I was able to bring my friends home to hang out.

Since my older sister gave birth to a baby girl, mum had to think about our safety first and put my older sister on medication and rehabilitation. Now my niece is 3 and I feel safe and mum has been less stressed. She suffers from depression which escalates to severe migraines and vertigo. As it’s a huge responsibility for her to maintain her sanity and responsibility on her own, I step in and gave her my unconditional love and helped with chores and babysit my niece so mum can have respite.

From time to time, it’s been a long journey for me and I have stayed strong physically and mentally stable. I couldn’t ask for anything more or change my situation as I feel very proud and overwhelmed to provide the care and responsibility that I feel rewarded. Thanks to the young carers network and young bursary, I am able to have a life and tell my story.

It has been a rewarding experience to see my niece grow up and mum being less stressed. However, her health condition is not to great. The bad news is that I suffer from the same condition as mum. I suffer severe migraines myself and at times I couldn’t even get up for up to 2 days. Mum just soldiers on and I admire her for being so strong coping with all these misfortunes and I learn to be a stronger person. Again thank you for reading my story. I believe tomorrow will always be a better day.