My Step-Mum has taken one fish oil tablet for over half a century. And she has no plans to stop doing so any time soon. When she went to see her Doctor recently for her annual 'flu injection,' he remarked on how well she was looking and how she was in such extraordinary good health.
It's a happy story and if you can spare a few minutes, I would like to share her secret with you. Mum immigrated to Australia from New Zealand when she was in her mid-fifties; which in itself shows quite a degree of courage. Not many people 'up roots, sticks-'n-all' and go and start new ventures in a new country. They were Graziers (sheep and cattle farmers) and bought a property in Northern New South Wales. It was here that my biological parents met them and they formed an extraordinary close relationship. This in Australia is not remarkable, but what follows over the years, through thick-and-thin, is.
My real Mum and Dad were with them on a Lawn Bowling trip when they received news that their eldest son was killed in a light plane crash. This was devastating to everyone, for everyone liked their first-born immensely. He left a young wife and two beautiful daughters. These were Mum and Doug's first Grandchildren. And they returned to New Zealand and were lost to Doug and Mum for a couple of decades. Happily everyone is now reunited but it has been a long, sad journey which required a lot of fortitude and good health. Mum was taking Fish Oil tablets all the time to stay healthy.
The next calamity that they all went through together was on an overseas trip when Doug became very ill, in a country where they didn't have a good grasp of English and neither did my parents speak any of the local language. Dad and Mum helped Doug and Mum through the red-tape required to get Doug back to Australia quickly and into the right Hospital for his condition.
As the years progressed, and weddings and Christenings in our families were celebrated together, my Mums, Doug and Dad spent many happy hours together, playing bowls, cards and talking of their family's hopes and aspirations.
It was on one of these relaxing Sundays that Doug and Mum were with my Mum and Dad on our property at Matheson, when Doug suddenly said he was not feeling very well and needed to lie down.
They had just finished a special Sunday lunch, when Doug excused himself and said he was going to lie down on the couch on the sun verandah. My Mum said she would get a rug for him to keep him warm.
It was only a few minutes later that Mum took the rug to Doug on the sun verandah, but it was too late. Doug was dead.
The years passed; then my Mum became very ill with cancer of the Liver. It was a metastases and the primary cancer was never found. My Mum died in 1987. But before she died, she needed to see my other Mum first. My Mum waited to die until my other Mum came back from a visit to New Zealand where she had been visiting her Grandchildren. She got back and rushed straight up to the Hospital to see Mum and my Mother died that night.
The years passed; then my Dad told us that he and my other Mum were to marry and asked us kids, to always look after Mum if he were to die first. This happened in 2005 after a battle with Alzheimer's. Mum tried many times to get him to take a fish oil tablet every day but he steadfastly refused, more out of stubbornness than anything else.
So, we are now blessed with a 93 year-old matriarch, who still takes her one capsule every day with her cereal, is as fit as a 'Mallee bull', as alert as a forty-something, card playing, interested and caring Mum who recommends frequently to take our daily dose of fish oil every day.
It's a happy story and if you can spare a few minutes, I would like to share her secret with you. Mum immigrated to Australia from New Zealand when she was in her mid-fifties; which in itself shows quite a degree of courage. Not many people 'up roots, sticks-'n-all' and go and start new ventures in a new country. They were Graziers (sheep and cattle farmers) and bought a property in Northern New South Wales. It was here that my biological parents met them and they formed an extraordinary close relationship. This in Australia is not remarkable, but what follows over the years, through thick-and-thin, is.
My real Mum and Dad were with them on a Lawn Bowling trip when they received news that their eldest son was killed in a light plane crash. This was devastating to everyone, for everyone liked their first-born immensely. He left a young wife and two beautiful daughters. These were Mum and Doug's first Grandchildren. And they returned to New Zealand and were lost to Doug and Mum for a couple of decades. Happily everyone is now reunited but it has been a long, sad journey which required a lot of fortitude and good health. Mum was taking Fish Oil tablets all the time to stay healthy.
The next calamity that they all went through together was on an overseas trip when Doug became very ill, in a country where they didn't have a good grasp of English and neither did my parents speak any of the local language. Dad and Mum helped Doug and Mum through the red-tape required to get Doug back to Australia quickly and into the right Hospital for his condition.
As the years progressed, and weddings and Christenings in our families were celebrated together, my Mums, Doug and Dad spent many happy hours together, playing bowls, cards and talking of their family's hopes and aspirations.
It was on one of these relaxing Sundays that Doug and Mum were with my Mum and Dad on our property at Matheson, when Doug suddenly said he was not feeling very well and needed to lie down.
They had just finished a special Sunday lunch, when Doug excused himself and said he was going to lie down on the couch on the sun verandah. My Mum said she would get a rug for him to keep him warm.
It was only a few minutes later that Mum took the rug to Doug on the sun verandah, but it was too late. Doug was dead.
The years passed; then my Mum became very ill with cancer of the Liver. It was a metastases and the primary cancer was never found. My Mum died in 1987. But before she died, she needed to see my other Mum first. My Mum waited to die until my other Mum came back from a visit to New Zealand where she had been visiting her Grandchildren. She got back and rushed straight up to the Hospital to see Mum and my Mother died that night.
The years passed; then my Dad told us that he and my other Mum were to marry and asked us kids, to always look after Mum if he were to die first. This happened in 2005 after a battle with Alzheimer's. Mum tried many times to get him to take a fish oil tablet every day but he steadfastly refused, more out of stubbornness than anything else.
So, we are now blessed with a 93 year-old matriarch, who still takes her one capsule every day with her cereal, is as fit as a 'Mallee bull', as alert as a forty-something, card playing, interested and caring Mum who recommends frequently to take our daily dose of fish oil every day.
