The singer, now a full-time carer for her two grandsons, tells Glen Williams why grandparents are Australia’s unsung heroes.
The look on Deb Byrne’s face says it all. Drinking in baby Alice, her cute eight-month-old granddaughter, the singer’s joy spills over. And little Alice, sensing her proud grandma’s love, instantly breaks into a heart-melting grin.
To see her, all plump and smiling, it’s hard to imagine the little girl had a rough start to life. At five weeks of age she wasn’t putting on any weight and was failing to thrive. Her worried parents, Deb’s eldest daughter Arja and son-in-law Ashley, were at their wits’ end. Thankfully the medical team at Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, were quick to diagnose a hormone problem and treat her, and now Deb can’t stop singing their praises.
“That hospital is amazing, and I’m so in love with Alice,” says Deb. “Every time I look at her, she stirs so many memories. She’s exactly like Arja was, yet this little bundle is a lot more full-on than Arja ever knew how to be. She’s very feisty.
“To think she was so frail and sick. But she’s a fighter, and that’s what pulled her through. I said to Arja, ‘It’s good she has that feisty spirit because she’ll need it to come amongst these kids and hold her own.’ But she will hold her own. She’ll give them a run for their money.”
Deb is referring to her lively grandsons, Oliver, 5, and Aaron, 3, two boisterous blond handfuls she is raising single-handedly. She has full custody of the boys, who are the children of her second daughter, Lauren.
Lauren is intellectually impaired and her partner has disabilities, and they weren’t able to consistently look after the boys.
Now Deb, like many grandparents today, is the full-time carer of her two grandsons, and she wants to see all grandparents in similar situations get a fairer go.
“There are so many grandparents who do what I do. You would be shocked by the number who take on this challenging role,” she says. “It’s not easy, and we’re not supported or appreciated by our government bodies. The amount of backwards and forwards to Centrelink, the paperwork, the confusion and not knowing your rights, is endless. It all gets in the way of the job you are doing.”
Deb is hoping to rally carer grandparents together so they can present a united voice in their efforts to get more government assistance.
Read the full story in this week’s Woman’s Day, on sale March 29, 2010.
Debra Byrne, dressed by Excessories
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