FAMILY HEALING
When solo mother Megan Aramoana isn’t at hospital with her son DJ, supporting him through his second round of chemotherapy, she’s filling any spare moment focusing on her other nine children.
Life with eight boys and two girls, ranging in age from eight to 29, is busy, especially when one child has leukaemia and another two require daily injections and blood sugar monitoring for type 1 diabetes. On top of diabetes, eight-year-old Gina also has coeliac disease, requiring a strictly gluten-free diet.
Without the support of her Auckland community – including family, friends, schools and charities like Cure Kids – juggling her younger kids’ needs would be near impossible, she admits.
“My 13-year-old son Ryan
was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes a few years ago, then my youngest, Gina, at three.”
When she was told DJ, 10, had leukaemia over a year ago, Megan was used to managing sick kids, but she wasn’t prepared for helping a son through cancer treatment.
“Most of my time is spent in hospital with DJ, who has had some pretty big doses of chemo. He relapsed before his first round had finished last month, so we’re back at the start. Sometimes I feel like I don’t spend time with my other kids because when I get home, I have to do washing or pay the bills.”
But thanks to friends who take the kids to sports, drive her youngest children to hospital and make rostered dinners, it works. As she gets her Woman’sDay pamper session, Megan admits she can’t remember the last time she had some R&R.
“I don’t really look after myself,” she tells. “I try to have a coffee with friends, but it’s hard because DJ’s in there 24/7.”
For Megan, today means much-needed adult time with like-minded women who understand life with sick children and the need for a breather.
“When DJ is well enough, we get out of Auckland and visit my parents in Keri Keri or family friends on their farm in Taranaki,” she tells. “The kids aren’t on devices and they go fishing. That’s how we de-stress as a family, before coming back refreshed to face the next day.”