Going away? Have your mail collected
Be creative with your passwords
If you’re heading away, ask a friend or trusted neighbour to pick up your mail to prevent anyone stealing anything containing personal information. If there is no-one available to collect your mail, Australia Post can hold it for a fee. It’s also not a bad idea to secure your letterbox with a lock. the likelihood of card details being stolen can be higher. To remind yourself, sign up for alerts to be sent to your mobile. Let your bank know you’re away so they can monitor activity to identify which transactions are legit and which ones are dodgy. It’s surprisingly easy to guess a password. A US study of 10 million passwords found that 17 per cent were ‘123456’. Another popular one? ‘Qwerty’. Go for a mix of characters – upper and lower case – and numbers.
In 2013, Leea Butler and her husband Lee were excitedly awaiting the arrival of their first baby, but complications arose 27 weeks into Leea’s pregnancy when she developed the serious condition pre-eclampsia.
Leea – who lives in a small rural community in Central Queensland – was airlifted by careflight helicopter to Rockhampton Base hospital, where tests revealed her baby was experiencing severe intrauterine growth restriction. Leea was soon in the air again, this time being flown to Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, 600km from her home.
“By the time we reached Brisbane both bub and I were in a critical condition and we were admitted for an emergency caesarean,” reveals Leea, later diagnosed as having a blood-clotting disorder.
“The next two weeks in hospital went by in a haze as I struggled to recover while my little 753gram baby boy struggled on in NICU.”
Meanwhile Lee, who had flown to his wife and newborn son Cooper’s side, was welcomed into the Ronald Mcdonald House Herston next door to the hospital.
After being discharged from hospital, Leea also moved into the House, while Lee, who had just started a new job, did the long commute to and from their home each weekend.
“It ended up being three long months we called Ronald Mcdonald House Herston home,” says Leea. “There’s no way we could have spent those days beside Cooper had it not been for Ronald Mcdonald House. To know there was a comfortable room, home-cooked meals and kind, comforting faces waiting for us just across the road was such a relief.”
After Cooper was finally discharged, Leea still had to make regular trips back to Brisbane for Cooper’s ongoing medical care. “Each time, Ronald Mcdonald House Herston and the new Ronald Mcdonald House South Brisbane have been there as a comforting and familiar home away from home.”
Two years later, Leea became pregnant again and needed close monitoring due to her history and blood clotting disorder. She spent the last six weeks of her pregnancy back at the Herston House – in the same room as when Cooper was born! Then two years old, little Cooper thrived in the warm, loving environment of the House.
“Regular organised activities and social events meant there was often something to keep both ourselves and Cooper busy and entertained,” says Leea. “After spending a month and a half at the Herston House, my shy little boy came out of his shell, making some dear friends he couldn’t wait to play with in the common rooms.”
With their second son, Flynn, born healthy and without complications and now two years old himself, Leea and Lee are now thrilled to be awaiting the arrival of their third child.
“We will once again be calling Ronald Mcdonald House home so we can receive the care and monitoring we need to ensure the safe arrival of our last little baby,” says Leea. “Without this wonderful facility, the journey we’ve been on would have been so much more stressful, complicated and near impossible.”