On Anzac Day this year, Matt Freeman and his wife lost their 16-year-old daughter, Leila. She was heavily disabled and non-verbal and this year, her gut system started to shut down. It was a roller coaster few months, made bearable towards the end, says Freeman, by the staff at Bear Cottage, a Sydney-based provider of respite and end-of-life care for children.
“There’s so much support and care out there. It was the really, really difficult thing about resigning because I have got nothing bad to say about AWN. I can’t ask people not to care.” When Freeman was at high school he loved basketball and dreamt of sitting on the bench with a National Basketball Association team as its physio. When the young Freeman said he was aiming to study physiotherapy, his parents suggested he put down a business-related course as a back-up.
Even though Freeman had attended an agricultural high school, he had never considered a career in the sector.