My stepdad’s my idol
DespiteDespit yet another blow, thet singer is ready t to take on the world
Leaving the I’m a Celebrity... Get M Me Out of Here! jungle, Casey Donovan was on top of the wo world. But the singer’s joy at winningwwinning was cut short hours later when her m mum Tracy revealed her beloved stepdadstep Norm Axford, 65, had been diagnoseddi with stage one pancreatic cancer and was facing surgery in a bid to save his life. “It was a shock to my syste system and after what I’d just experienced it was reall really tough,” Casey tells Woman’sWom Day. “Mum felt reall really bad for telling me beca because she feels like every time I do something great, somet something bad happens. “Peo “People kind of have a tendenc tendency to s**t on me at the highest p points in my life. I don’t get excitedexcite when things happen – I’m alwa always waiting for someone to burst this bubble.” One notablenota instance was when Casey won AustralianA Idol in 2004 at just 16 ye years old. At the press conference, which should have been a celebration,celeb Casey was shockedh kd whenh an aunt publicly demanded to know why she hadn’t invited her estranged biological father Merv to the Opera House to watch her perform. The 28-year-old says “lots of little things kind of accumulated” to mar her joy in times of triumph. But this time Casey and Norm say things will be different – as Norm looks like he’s beating his cancer!
“As far as surgery, that’s been very successful – the specialist is very happy with my progress,” Norm says of the gruelling operation he underwent in late March.
Now, as he’s ready to start chemotherapy, he says the family are cautiously optimistic.
“At first I read it as a death sentence, but the oncologist assured me there are plenty of people in my situation who have gone on to live good, healthy lives,” Norm reveals. “I’ve said from the beginning that life is what it is and death is a part of it. I feel more for the people around me than I do for myself. The worst part is that Casey’s grandma only just died after a five-year battle with melanoma, and we’re just getting through that.”
“My poor mother is taking a battering first with my grandma and now with Norm,” adds Casey. “But Mum’s a very strong woman and I’m going to be there for her as much as I can.”
Norm feared his health crisis would send Casey, who has suffered anxiety, into a spiral. Instead he’s been thrilled to watch her go from strength to strength.
“I thought, here’s something good going for her and then she has to be knocked around with this lousy news,” Norm tells us. “But she’s come back from South Africa with such a positive attitude and valuing herself. I just love that.”
Norm has been Casey’s biggest support in her battle with selfesteem issues. Casey credits him with encouraging her to audition for Australian Idol, but he also pushed her to take part in I’m a Celebrity..., which she says has put her in an incredibly happy place.
“It’s not about the fame or the money,” says Norm. “It was to help Casey recognise her own value, to realise she is a worthwhile person with value and talent she should share regardless of criticism.”
Casey beams at the man who raised her from age two. “Norm has been my idol from day one,” she says. “He’s always been my biggest supporter even when I wasn’t my own.”