Parents
Tammy Nash

Profession:
Founder and Chairman of the Special Wings Foundation

Age of parents:
38

Child’s name:
Brett John Brodie Nash

Age: 12 Years

Is this your only child?
I do have a beautiful daughter Sarah and she is 16 and the most amazing sister to Brett.

Diagnosis of child:
Brett is undiagnosed

What are the biggest challenges facing your child on a daily basis?
Brett is learning to feed himself now and although he is potty trained he still needs nappies. He is not able to dress himself and still struggles going up and down stairs. He can say a few words but generally cannot talk but sings tunes to songs ALL the time. He goes to a wonderful school called L.U.C.C.A where he is so happy and the staff just love him.

What are the happiest moments you have with your child on a daily basis?
Brett is such a loving child, often when he is playing he’ll come and find you and reverse onto your lap, giving you one of his funny little loves and a kiss that is more noise than kiss but so so special.

Our time in the car after we have dropped his sister at school – when she gets out of the car she moves him to the front seat and we will sit there for 15 minutes and he’ll have his 2 yoghurts and then we take a slow drive to school, holding my hand the whole way. His little awkward hands are so soft and give me an amazing sense of peace, Brett and I don’t have a care in the world for those 20 minutes.

Are you married? Married to a wonderful man - Gareth.

Has your Special Needs Child had an effect on your marriage?
Brett has not affected our marriage at all. We are a loving family and a very special team of four. However the financial implications that came with our special boy have had a stressful impact on us. We are a strong team and have managed to pull through difficult times without having to sell our house, it has come very close at times.

Are your family and friends supportive?
We have the most amazing support structure anyone could ask for – we are so lucky. With my family being overseas, they have most definitely helped and assisted wherever they possibly can but I have to say that my in-laws are without a doubt the super heroes here. We could never have brought Brettie up without them. They have been my backbone through thick and thin and nothing has been too much for them when we ask for help. Brettie and my mum-law have a very close bond and he misses her if he doesn’t get to see her on weekends. His most favourite place to be is at his ‘Nana’s’ house.

We have a few close family friends that are very supportive and always willing to help where they can and love both our children as if they were their own.

What has your child taught you about yourself, both positively and negatively?
Having a special needs child has opened up a whole new world to us that we honestly didn’t even know was out there. We have met the most amazing people along the way and I have met some really special ladies that I can easily say are my best friends and probably will be for the rest of my life. I have always wanted to go into event planning and now I run a foundation called Special Wings Foundation that raises funds for Special Needs Children’s Education - I plan all the events.

On a negative point, my patience levels are not what they used to be and I tend to judge people with ‘normal’ children more now than I used to. I do suffer a bit from depression which kicked in a few years after Brett was born but this is under control, I have been told that depression is pretty common for moms of special needs children.

Do you take time out, if so what do you do to relax?
Honestly I don’t often have time to relax but every now and then I pop in and have a cup of tea with a good friend, who also has a special needs child. I also meet a very close friend (who used to teach Brett) for dinner every couple of months and we have a good girls gossip dinner - just the 2 of us.

What has made the biggest difference to your child's quality of life?
When he learnt to walk at the age of 10. We never knew if he would even crawl but slowly but surely the mile stones were reached and today he is running around and loving life. He is certainly making up for those 10 years of no walking.

What is your dream for your child?
At this stage we know he will need us forever but we would love for him to be able to feed and dress himself, be able to climb in and out of the bath on his own, be able to turn the TV on and change the channels by himself. All these things that most people take for granted every day.