By Angela Mollard
Pictures: Andrew Jacob
She suffered every mother’s worst nightmare when her twin sons died in the backyard pool, but Maxine is fighting through her grief.
It’s the quietness that Maxine Hill notices most. Where once there was the sound of two little boys riding their bikes and giggling as they smeared Vegemite on each other’s faces, now there is only silence.
Three months after her twin sons Ethan and Matthew drowned in the family swimming pool, the young mum and her family are slowly trying to piece their lives back together.
“The worst thing is knowing that you’re never going to kiss or hug them again,” says 22-year-old Maxine, drawing her arms around herself as she reveals for the first time the full horror of her twins’ deaths.
Sitting on the enclosed patio overlooking the large pool, you can understand why Maxine and her family have to move from their home on NSW’s Central Coast.
“I can’t look at the pool — all I see are the boys lying still beside it with the police and ambulance all around… That image never goes away,” says Maxine, as she turns slowly through a pair of baby memory books that are full of loving detail but end abruptly.
For the full story, see this week’s Woman’s Day (on sale February 23).
To donate money to NETS go to www.everydayhero.com.au/ethan_and_matthew_foundation
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