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Terry Vo’s triumph: ‘Look, I can dance!’

**By Glen Williams

Despite having both hands cut off and losing his left foot, Terry Vo still dances to his own beat.**

Who could forget the horrible day in 2005 when news broke that a 10-year-old Perth boy lay fighting for his life, having lost both his hands and a foot in a freak backyard basketball accident.

The little boy was Terry Vo. It was the Easter weekend and Terry had jumped up to perform an energetic slam dunk at a friend’s home in the northern suburb of Dianella. As he grabbed hold of the hoop — secured to a garage wall — the wall and knife-sharp roof guttering came crashing down. The falling bricks and guttering, as savage as guillotines, cut off Terry’s hands and left foot.

Miraculously, a fast-thinking friend located the severed limbs among the debris and put them on ice in an esky.

The amazing team at Perth’s Princess Margaret Hospital for Children were able to reattach Terry’s arms, making headlines all around the world, but his foot was unable to be restored and his leg was amputated 14cm below his knee.

Terry’s parents, Tam and Trang, were devastated and, to a large extent, still are. His mum Trang admits that every time she sees Terry’s prosthesis, she can’t help but think, “If only there hadn’t been an accident.”

For the full story, see this week’s Woman’s Day (on sale Oct 20).

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Jen Hawkins exclusive: ‘My best ever diet tips’

**By Sarah Blake

The Supermodel host reveals how you can look great for summer.**

She’s one of the world’s most beautiful women — the creative force behind Cozi swimwear and the face of Make Me A Supermodel — but even the former Miss Universe has days when she doesn’t want to look in a mirror. Jennifer Hawkins shares her bikini body secrets with Woman’s Day, and reveals how the right attitude, clever workout tricks and a healthy approach can make your summer beach body dreams an eye-catching reality.

Do you ever find it hard to get enthusiastic about exercise?

I’m lucky because I grew up doing lots of sports and I am always ready to exercise. I love it, I know it sounds weird but it’s sort of my favourite part of the day. But it’s also important to remember that you need to allow yourself some time off from exercise — if you keep going and going then your body can’t recover and you lose the motivation. I try to have a day off every three days or so.

I have friends who hate exercise and the best advice I can give them or anyone is to just give it a go. You don’t have to join the gym or be extreme about it — start by taking a 20-minute walk twice a week and then the rest will follow.

Everyone is different, though — some people just hate the gym and that’s fair enough. You just have to find what’s right for you and not give up if you don’t find it straight away.

How do you motivate yourself if you’re feeling sluggish?

If I’m sluggish, which isn’t too often, I have a rest… that’s your body telling you to rest. I eat pretty well, so I feel good most of the time. Sometimes the words Cozi Cozi Cozi come into my head and boom, I’m up.

Is there a healthy way to drop a dress size really quickly?

Quickly, as in a few weeks? Yes. Just cut out all starchy foods and ramp up the exercise — it really works. I try to avoid any processed foods and white food in my normal diet, but cut it out completely when I’m getting ready for a swimwear shoot. The white food ban isn’t a strict rule because life gets pretty boring when you make too many rules, but it’s a great one to keep in mind.

Also, drink lots of water in the lead-up to a big day — be it a wedding or a bikini unveiling — but don’t drink so much on the actual day that you will be feel bloated.

And replace your milky cappuccinos with macchiatos — I’m a big fan of caffeine and don’t think you need to cut it out of your diet.

Do you get ever nervous about wearing a bikini?

It’s one element of my job to look like I am comfortable wearing next to nothing, but that isn’t always the case. My work doesn’t have summer or winter — I have to be bikini-ready all the time, so I work off a very healthy base. I might have a period where I know I’m not doing swimwear so I can have a choc top at the movies, but I don’t really go crazy on the naughty food — I don’t really enjoy the aftermath.

For more from Jennifer Hawkins, see this week’s Woman’s Day (on sale Oct 20).

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Kate Ritchie knocks Imran for 6!

**By Lucy Chesterton

Attractive Kate Ritchie catches the eye of cricket icon Imran Khan.**

He’s been linked to a bevy of beautiful women in his time, but when Pakistani cricketing legend turned politician Imran Khan visited Australia last week, he was seemingly bowled over by stunning Kate Ritchie.

In Queensland to attend a number of community events, Imran also made a guest appearance at the glittering 2008 Australian Commercial Radio Awards, held at Conrad Jupiters Casino.

The event attracted celebrities from all over the country, including Ian “Dicko” Dickson, Australian Idol co-host Andrew G and comedy duo Hamish and Andy, plus radio personality Ray Hadley, who took out the gong for best sports presenter.

But Imran appeared to only have eyes for Kate, who cut a fine figure in black gown adorned with a silver waist bow…

For the full story, see this week’s Woman’s Day (on sale Oct 20).

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Shane Warne: My battle with booze

Shane reveals how he turned to drink after his marriage split — and how Michael Clarke saved him.

Shane Warne has made a shock disclosure about his personal demons, revealing the role that alcohol played in the collapse of his marriage to wife Simone.

In a candid interview, the cricketing great admitted he battled a booze hell when his personal life hit crisis point.

Interviewed for Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph newspaper, the world’s greatest spin bowler has spoken out about the depth to which he sank when his private world fell apart.

It was back in 2005, when he was on Australia’s Ashes Tour of England and still at the peak of his sporting career, that Shane became painfully aware that things couldn’t have been more different for him on the home front.

The star sportsman had an unattractive reputation as a serial flirt and love cheat after a series of text messages and photo scandals involving several women. Alone in his hotel room after a day of calling the shots on the cricket pitch, Shane found himself turning to the bottle for comfort. At the time, regret and shame were playing heavily on the spin king’s mind.

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Hugh Jackman kids around

As the star and devoted dad turns 40, he shows off his super-fit physique at the pool.

Down-to-earth superstar Hugh Jackman was just like any other dad as he spent time with his kids, Oscar, 8, and Ava, 3, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

Fresh from a family holiday with his wife, Deborra-lee Furness, and the kids in Cambodia, Hugh was happily settling back into everyday life on the eve of his 40th birthday.

After playing a game of hide-and-seek at the local playground, he took the kids to the pool. Clad in a pair of black board shorts, the shirtless hunk caught more than a few stares from surprised fans.

For the full story, see this week’s Woman’s Day (on sale Oct 20).

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TV’s Marcia Brady: My drug hell

Former The Brady Bunch favourite Maureen McCormick reveals how her lifestyle took her to rock bottom.

In a shocking new tell-all book, one time TV sweetheart Maureen McCormick has revealed how she secretly battled drugs after her The Brady Bunch fame faded, and even traded sex for cocaine as her life hit rock bottom.

In her brutally honest autobiography, Here’s The Story: Surviving Marcia Brady And Finding My True Voice, the now 52-year-old TV icon — who played perfect teen Marcia in the hit show — also reveals that she abused pills to lose weight, had two abortions at age 18, and finally checked herself into a mental institution after suffering from drug-related hallucinations.

“I had played Marcia Brady for five years. But I wasn’t her in any shape or form.

“She was perfect, I was anything but that,” the star admits in the book.

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Stars send their “Breast Wishes”

By Angela Mollard

Pictures: Andrew Jacob

Get four funny women together talking about breasts and it’s no surprise that they’re soon falling about and shrieking with laughter.

Writer Wendy Harmer and actors Anne Looby, Virginia Gay and Lisa Hewitt are all involved with Breast Wishes, a musical celebration of breasts which will coincide with the end of Breast Cancer Awareness month.

Says Anne who conceived the show after her sister Amanda battled breast cancer: “The show deals with all aspects of breasts and it’s very uplifting.”

“Yeah, it’s as uplifting as a good underwire bra,” quips Wendy who is responsible for much of the comedy in the show which will raise money for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Humour is a key element in the gala which is hinged around the story of a family as they deal with all aspects of breasts through adolescence, lactation, mammograms and, ultimately, breast cancer.

Says AFI award-winning Anne, who sought scenes and monologues from a string of top writers, “It packs an enormous emotional punch but without sentimentality. It’s hilarious but we also get to the meat of the situation.”

One of Anne’s favourite lines from the show is an explanation of what to tell men when they enquire what mammograms are like. “Well, get out your penis and I’ll go and get two volumes of the yellow pages and show you,” shoots Anne’s character Carol.

For All Saints star Virginia Gay it was the thrill of a live audience as well the subject matter which attracted her to a role in Breast Wishes.

“I miss a crowd like nothing else,” says Virginia who has played Gabrielle Jaeger on All Saints for more than two years. “The show is serious but the comedy is seat-wettingly funny and I get very excited about the possibility of hearing those laughs. If you get laughs on the All Saints set it’s because you’ve done something wrong and everyone is sniggering.”

Meanwhile Lisa Hewitt, who is squeezing in the performance just weeks before her forthcoming wedding to singer David Campbell, is brushing up on her singing. She says she’s eager not to disgrace herself in front of her fiancé or her future father-in-law Jimmy Barnes.

“I haven’t sung since before I went to drama school so I’ve had to go back to singing lessons,” she giggles. “As for the dancing, I have the flexibility of wood so that’s going to be a challenge.”

The three actresses — who will also be joined by Valerie Bader — have all had friends or family members with breast cancer while Wendy Harmer’s best friend of 23 years was undergoing chemotherapy as she was writing her part of the script.

Says Wendy: “Having a friend going through it influenced me and made me want to write something serious but I know I write comedy better. Jokes make everybody happy and breasts are hilarious. Except for breast cancer, everything else to do with breasts is a riot.”

She says it’s also the lifecycle breasts go through which makes them so amusing: “They go from being very sexual, to maternal then you come out the other side and they’re really just a decorative item.”

For Anne, whose family history led her to be tested for the breast cancer gene which fortunately she has not inherited, Breast Wishes has many purposes. As well as raising awareness and funds for the foundation in October, she is planning to tour the show next year.

As she says: “Breast cancer has touched so many people and I feel that this is a way I can make a difference. My greatest talent is surrounding myself with really talented people and together they’ve created a real celebration of life.”

Breast Wishes is on stage at the Sydney Theatre on Friday October 31. For more information visit www.breastwishes.com.au

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My fiance drove me to my hot date

I had been with my fiancé for just over three years. He was an electrical engineer and I was a humble receptionist. Ian was simply an amazing person, so sweet, kind and giving. My best friend, really. I trusted him and he was my confidant. I shared everything with him, all my secrets, my dreams, and my feelings; there was nothing about me that I didn’t openly share with him… except one thing.

Through some friends I had met this other man and, boy, did he blow me away. Oliver had dark skin, honey-coloured puppy eyes, and a smile to melt for. He was a musician and was so beautifully expressive. I swooned instantly. Apparently, so did he. One night he approached me and told me that I was his fantasy. Being the timid girl I am, I sheepishly grinned and turned away. But by the end of the night we had swapped numbers and emails and decided to keep in touch.

Now Oliver knew about Ian and I never stopped telling him about my fiancé and our wedding plans. Oliver listened to all of my romantic ‘nonsense’ about Ian and dismissed it all, insisting that I was much more exciting and ferociously passionate than all that.

One conversation led to another and I was head over heels in lust. He persuaded me to believe that I deserved much more than the white picket fence and the simple life Ian could offer me. He was sure he was passionate enough to satisfy me and to make me happier than Ian ever could, and I was determined to find out.

Oliver lived 45 minutes away and going by public transport to see him and get back to Ian in time so as to not be suspicious was going to be impossible. So I managed to convince my fiancé that I had a communication skills course on once a week for six weeks in the afternoon, out where Oliver was. Ian, being the ever-so-giving and doting fiancé, obliged to give me a ride to and from the course venue.

I still remember the first afternoon Ian took me to see Oliver. My stomach churned and ached with guilt and I was perspiring like a waterfall. Normally I’m nervous on a first date, but I never would’ve imagined my chauffer to my first date would be my fiancé.

Ian dropped me off a street away from where Oliver lived. I called Oliver’s mobile and asked him to meet me downstairs when the coast was clear, as planned. We had dinner at a local restaurant; I was wined and dined and treated like I was a princess. There was something so sensual about Oliver but I knew it wasn’t love. He just made me feel good about myself. I felt attractive and sexy with all the attention he gave me.

The night ended and Oliver swept in for an unforgettable kiss. He literally took my breath away, he was so passionate and it just drove me wild. I went around the block and there was my fiancé, waiting in his car for me. His face lit up when he saw me and my stomach began to churn again.

This continued for about four weeks. On the fifth week, I called Oliver’s mobile and told him to meet me downstairs as was routine, but this time, Oliver asked me to come upstairs. I paused and stuttered, but he assured me everything was alright.

I went up to his apartment and knocked. He opened the door in nothing but a towel, took my hand and pulled me into the living room, where he immediately began to kiss me and run his fingers through my hair. My senses swam and I was so confused, I lost my mind. Then my mobile rang — I recognised Ian’s ringtone and as I took my phone out of my bag, Oliver snatched it from me, threw it across the room and continued to kiss me.

His hands began to drift from my hair to begin exploring and I woke up to myself — my lust for Oliver wasn’t worth losing Ian. I pushed Oliver away from me and broke down into tears. I couldn’t go through with it. Oliver didn’t understand why and I could not explain. But I picked up my mobile and ran out of his apartment as quickly as I had entered it and rang for a taxi to take me straight back to Ian’s and my place.

Ian was surprised to find I had come back home so early. I told him that I was feeling sick and threw up in class, a story which was only reinforced by the terrible fever I had from the amount of crying and stressing I did in the back of the cab.

Now Ian and I have been married for a year and he has no idea about his role in bringing Oliver and I close, too close. But Oliver is long gone and I am (always was and always will be) very much in love with Ian. No amount of foolish lust will ever change that.

Names in this story have been changed. Picture: Getty Images, posed by models.

Your say: Should the writer tell Ian what happened? Have your say about this true confession below…

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Soul mates: Closer than you think

**By Leanne Hudson

Do you believe in soul mates? Yes or no, you’ve probably experienced a time when you ‘connected’ with someone in a special way. But if you haven’t found your soul mate yet, you could be looking in the wrong place…**

Ask someone to define what a soul mate is and they’ll typically say something like:

“It’s the one person in the world I am destined to be with. When I meet my soul mate I’ll know straight away that this is the person I am meant to spend my life with.”

I’ve met my soul mate. I met this person almost 10 years ago and they’ve been a huge part of my life ever since. This person truly knows me inside and out. We spend a lot of time together and I can’t imagine a future without my soul mate in it. But that doesn’t mean this person is the one I will marry — because my soul mate is my best friend. And that’s not so unusual, says metaphysicist Stacey Demarco.

“People make the mistake of thinking a soul mate can only be a sexual partner,” says Stacey, author of The Coffee Oracle and one of the judges from Channel 7’s The One.

“Anyone can be a soul mate — friends, relatives, lovers. Age, nationality, sex, physicality… none of these attributes are particularly relevant. What is important is the reaction you have to a soul mate. Have you ever met someone who you just liked straight away, for no good reason? Or someone you wanted to tell all about yourself? This is your soul at work.”

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More reason to fight the blues: depression toxic to the brain

Getty Images

New scientific research has revealed that depression can potentially cause severe brain damage, reinforcing the importance of early diagnosis and treatment amongst sufferers.

A three-year study of 38 patients admitted to a psychiatric ward with serious depression found that grey-matter loss in key areas of the brain — the prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulum and hippocampus — seemed associated with more severe outcomes of depression.

High resolution images were taken of the patients’ brains at the time of admittance into hospital and then every subsequent year for three years. The research, which was published this week in the Archives of General Psychiatry journal, found those who remained ill experienced more grey-matter loss than those whose depression improved. They also experienced more grey-matter loss than those of 30 healthy people whose brains were also monitored for the study. It was also revealed that the patients with the worst cases of depression were less likely to make a good recovery.

Dr. Thomas Frodl of the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, who headed up the study, said the findings reinforced the importance of early diagnosis, and that prompt treatment — whether by antidepressants or psychotherapy — could be vital in preventing permanent brain damage. He said it was therefore crucial that treatment should begin as soon as possible after a person becomes ill.

Although previous studies have indicated similar findings, Dr Frodl’s research is the first of its kind to be carried out over a longer time period. It is also the first study to demonstrate how brain changes occur in relation to depression, and correlate to its severity.

YOUR SAY: Do you suffer from depression or know someone who does? Are they seeking treatment? Tell us your thoughts on this subject below…

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