Erin, 16, ACT

terrible couple of months..

It all started on Christmas day 2005, when I found out that my father, had cancer. Bone cancer. I was shocked to hear the news from my parents, the fact my dad looked me straight in the eye and said he was sick, and that he may not make it. i was 10 back then so of course i hardly knew what was happening. But then it started coming clear to me, seeing my dad deteriorate right infront of my eyes, seeing my dad basically die slowly infront of me. it broke my heart seeing him being taken away in a ambulance a number of times, by easter it was horrible, he didnt know who my mum was, or who his daughters were and by the 28th of April, 2006 he passed away.

I remember waking up that morning and getting ready for school, walking to the stairs and seeing my dads shoes, and to me that was a sign that he was home. so i ran up stairs and found my sister crying on the couch. i said "where's dad?" she replied "go see mum out on the verandah" so i walked out and there was all of our family, neighbours everyone. i walked up to mum and said "where's dad?" she started crying like i've never seen her cry that much before, than she said "he's gone erin" i didn't know what was going on. then mum explained it. i didn't talk to people for days, i bottled everything up. Until my mum got offered this counselling lady from the Army, It was a relief to be able to talk to someone and understand that there are people out there who are willing to help you.

My advice is that if you're going through something along the lines of this, get help, talk to someone, anyone. be it a friend, mother, father, brother, sister, teacher, neighbour. Don't bottle it up inside because it does eat away at you, until you reach breaking point.
Getting help, really did help me.