Sunday, April 3, 2011

Mrs Cynthia Dodson from the Vale Street units has lived here at the units for nearly 20 years. Cynthia started life as the youngest of four siblings in Nhill, Victoria in 1931. Her father died before she was born from a lung  disease. The family moved to nearby Kiata to live with the grandparents. When Cynthia was 3 they moved to Ballarat but her mother, who was struggling to manage, sent Cynthia to live with an aunty in Kiata for 6 months each year. She moved back to Ballarat permanently when she was 12 but her mother died a year later in 1945 and she was sent back to Kiata to live for 12 months before finally returning to Ballarat to live with her married sister and family. Cynthia found work as a refreshment worker on the railways until she was married at 18.
Cynthia had 6 children and continued to work to support her family for many years at the Myer Mill until she was retrenched when the mill closed. Tragedy struck her family in 1974 when her second son, Barry died suddenly from an infection in 4 days. In 1976 her eldest son John was killed at the Hines Lane railway crossing here in Ballarat. Cynthia has 2 sons living in Melbourne and 2 daughters  living in Ballarat. She has 9 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren. Cynthia has battled all her life with an inherited condition called Charcot Marie Tooth Syndrome. It is a degenerative condition that causes Cynthia’s limbs, hands and feet to loose their function and the muscles to waste away. Mobility is very difficult now and Cynthia has constant  pain to cope with. Despite these burdens Cynthia continues to live at the units and retains the ability to smile and delights in company.


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