My Personal Journey…….That Ignited My Passion For Wellness

Hello My Name is Shirley Grant.. Welcome to Mastering Wellness Naturally and my very FIRST blog post.  I really hope you enjoy my personal story and journey.

My mum and myself. My mum lived to 90 years of age, despite a hard life.

I was born into a humble working class family on the 26th of January,1949 in Geelong West, in Victoria, Australia… yes I am 66 years young,  an after the war baby like a lot of Australians around that time, my dad Edward being 37 years old when I was born and my mum Dulcie was 25 years of age.  I am the eldest of three children, a sister and my baby brother being 8 years younger than myself. I was a very active, athletic, skinny, care free child and young teenager, you might say I could run like the wind, had no cares in the world, I could jump big puddles and even front fences in a single bound, running and jumping felt like flying to me I felt free.  

Tragedy would strike my family and change my life forever at the age of fifteen, my life ambitions of either being a PE Teacher (Physical Education) or Veterinarian had suddenly been cancelled, as my mum gathered us around the table to give us the devastating news,

“Your Father Has Cancer”  and Shirley you will have to leave school and help support us.

Even though we did not know much about cancer in those days 1963, a deathly silence entered the room, I knew CANCER was something really bad, it just had that bad news name. I felt really scared and sad as my mum explained the best she could what cancer was and it sure sounded scary and what was going to happen and that dad would be going into hospital to have an operation and going to be in hospital for a long time.  I could hardly speak, I was mortified in shock, my baby brother who was only 7 years at the time and mums baby boy started crying, my younger sister started sobbing silently.  I thought to myself I have to be brave for mum, I shed no tears instead comforted my mum and siblings.

Times were very hard, dad was in and out of Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne over the next few months with operation after operation, he displayed his scars very proudly, he looked like he had been bitten by a great white shark many times, he was positive that he could beat this.

Me and My Dad In Happier Times In The Dress My Mum Made For Me

I started to get sad and really missed my dad, I felt like my whole life had been taken away from me, my dad was my very best friend and buddy, he taught me photography from a very early age, first being his photographic model, then teaching me how to compose a photo, the do’s and don’ts and finally I was allowed to go “The Sacred” dark room, nothing sinister as the name may imply, this is where he showed me how to develop the negatives, produce prints and my first black ad white award winning photograph. My dad was a great role model in life, his dedication and commitment when it came to the art of photography was inspiring and something that really inspired me.  He won first place in numerous sections each year at the Royal Melbourne Show, Geelong Show and The Geelong Camera Club competitions.  

Stress, sadness and depression was starting to take hold of my life there was no more special daughter dad time, which was always the highlight of the evening.  I had no sanctuary to go to after all the evening meal chores, being the eldest it seemed I got all of them.   It started to effect me so much this strain on the family and how I missed my dad.  Next My Hair Starts To Fall Out….. visits to the doctor and then specialists to find out what was happening, more visits, more pills, potions and lotions to reveal I could have alopecia areata  unfortunately non of their treatments worked and my hair kept falling out.  I thought my mum does not need this stress and strain she has enough to cope with looking after us and dad. Mums hair had almost turned completely grey at this stage and age 38 years from the stress and strain of everything that was happening with me and dad in and out of hospital from CANCER treatment.  I thought to myself when is this ever going to end is there something wrong with me like my dad am I going to get cancer like him.  My hair kept getting thinner each week to the extent that I had to wear a hair piece my hair was so thin and lifeless….I got so very self conscious about my appearance of my hair, hoping no one would know I was wearing a wig piece, my normal care free bubbly personality started to change into a reclusive quiet person.

Mum struggles to keep food on the table as a widow and single mother, working casual and part time jobs sometimes four different jobs, mum even sold AVON part time we did not have enough money coming in, in those days there was NO handouts from the government. I knew it was coming my final days at school, I was to finish at the end of Form 3, I was very sad.  I finished school with honours not academic honours but sporting honours and at my school end of the year presentation I won the Junior Physical Education Award Of The Year 1963, I represented the school and Region in Gymnastics, Hockey and Athletics…I was very sad my dreams had been dashed, but so proud of my achievements.  I started My First Job and finally got a FULL Time Position, I gave mum 35% of my wage weekly to help with the house hold expenses, mum made me bank the rest, which I have been very grateful for that advise.

My Dad’s Devastating Death Sentence News… those words you do not want to ever hear, was finally dealt to my dad and family in late 1968, there is no hope, there is only maybe at the most your husband has only 6 months to live. Our lives where shattered, my dad was going to die for real, I would no longer have a dad to love and to hold, he would never see me get married, never see me have children or ever see his grandchildren and he be a physical part of their lives, all of a sudden I realised how much he would miss, my life was consumed with immense sadness, tears rolled down my face and still do as I am writing this today. My dad got weaker and weaker, by the day, he still managed to set his dying wishes and goals.

My Dads Dying Wishes and Goals were to celebrate my 20th Birthday on January, 26th, it is to be a big celebration, it is to be my 21st Birthday Celebration as dad will not last much longer. To see my sister reach her 15th Birthday on the 9th March, and to see the long awaited world even of the “First Man To Walk On The Moon” in July 1969, these wishes and goals keep my dad going as he achieved one of his wishes, he strived for the other.  We all feared my dad was so close to death by this time, we were just hoping he would hold on for some of them if not all of his goals.

One of my Dads Goals was to see “The First Man To Walk On The Moon”.

Happiness Turns To Pain and Sorrow as dad holds on to celebrate my birthday at home not long after he is admitted to hospital for palliative care, he sees my sister turn fifteen years, he is close to death and the next three weeks my dads black hair turns to grey almost over night, the pain is to much to much for him to bear, the tumour has now grown to the size of a football and is pushing on major internal organs and consumed my dads whole body draining all life.  I will soon lose my father, my buddy my friend to CANCER, that is consuming his whole physical body. 

Only MEMORIES exist now as father passes on as a brave angel and hero, six years have come to an end, we all struggle to come to terms with dads death and how to deal with it, to this day I can still not remember anything after my mother told us all that dad had died.  The stress has erased all memories of his funeral, which still haunts me today, all I have are the wonderful memories which I am very grateful for.  

“It Is Better It To Have Loved and Lost, Than Never Have Loved Before”   

Over the years I have always done my best to uphold my FATHER’S MEMORY to my children and grandchildren and so have my children, I have now three children and eight grandchildren, who I talk regularly to about their great grandfather, what he was like his passion and his loves, they all have part of him inside, one of my grandchildren bears my dads name Edward (Teddy) as his middle name of “Thomas Edward” . 

This is Thomas Edward with his Teddy 

However there is always that hole in my heart as I know I missed so much, my dad missed so much, my children and grand children, have been robbed of someone very special in there lives, their grandfather and great grandfather.

Years later my worst nightmare was to unfold as I was faced with many chronic, debilitating degenerative diseases myself.  I feared I might have CANCER and die like my father and leave my family, my youngest was only 8 years old at that time, I did not only want to live on in memory.

I knew what it felt like to lose someone so close, to degenerative disease, the stress, pain and sorrow that followed, and I knew that I did not want to live in memory alone and miss all the wonderful milestones in my children’s lives,  I thought life is repeating itself, how could this happening, I knew that memories are not always enough.  I am however grateful for the memories I have of my dad because this is what keeps him close to me.

Racked In Pain and High On Medication. I started my own personal journey to find a solution how to eliminate and prevent my degenerative disease, I was sick of the roller coaster ride I was on, every time I went to the doctor for check up, I had some new disease and another medication was prescribed, I had just had enough, I thought when will this ever end…so I decided to take action my self and find that solution.  

I have always believed in nature and in plants, I thought to myself surely there is a higher reason we have all these species, of vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts, grains, roots, barks, herbs and spices put on this earth for us.  My inspiration upon reflection came from my grandparents and the healthy lifestyle they lived on their farm, they were Orchardist’s and grew, apricots, plums and pears, they had an affinity with the land and nature, which I also shared.

I know of many ancient cultures that use plants to Regenerate the body, like the Chinese and that the little old Chinese man (medicine man) that lived on the next farm over from my grandparents farm. I remember my mother telling me that whenever they were sick or ailing as children, they would go over and this little old Chinese man’s farm down the road and he  would help them pick the right herbs and plants to add to their food to help them feel better.  When I would stay on the farm as a child, my grandma would pull out a bottle of elixir that this little old Chinese man had made for her from his many herbs and plants he had growing, he claimed it was a “Miracle Cure” grandma would dose me up telling me this is from Gods Garden and it will help ward off colds and flues and make you healthy.   It tasted ghastly and was so YUK it used to make me gag. I wasn’t  game enough to say NO to grandma, so I just closed my eyes and drank it down, because I always knew it would make me feel better.

Time has passed and I have NOW Found what I call “The Secret To Longevity” and In 6 Months I Was Pain and Disease Free and the Bonus was I Lost 25 kilos (55 pounds) and 43 cm (17 inches) in the process.   This really ignited my passion that I could help people, just like I was able to help myself, not only with their health and wellbeing, but their weight loss as well….and I thought to myself if I was blessed enough to help one family not have to go through the stress, pain and sadness of losing a loved one prematurely to cancer or any other degenerative disease, my life would feel full filled.  Fortunately I got GREADY and this passion to help people with their health and wellbeing took over my life and since then I have helped hundreds of people all around Australia.

I believe my Father ‘s death was not in vain and I have been put on this earth to honour his memory by helping people with their health and wellbeing and show them the steps they need to take to lead a happy healthy disease free life. Author Shirley Lorraine Grant.

I hope you enjoyed “My Journey That Ignited My Passion for Wellness” and that is WHY My Passion For Wellness Is Still Ignited and the reason I started this blog to educate and provide Wellbeing and Disease Prevention solution’s Click Here For the EXACT Program That Gave Me My Life and Health Back.