Maria talks candidly about her mum's experience of living with MND. Lambrini received her diagnosis in September 2010 but her symptoms started out as a misdiagnosed stroke in 2009. Lambrini passed away on 10 June 2011.
Maria says: I knew in June 2010 from a GP’s report that it could be MND. After spending time on the MND website I realised that Mum’s condition was in fact MND, a specialist's report was only going to confirm this.
Mum's symptoms started in the throat area as she had difficulty speaking and swallowing. Sadly she deteriorated steadily. Dad made many changes to our home in Sydney (I live in Melbourne) to keep Mum home-based but as her conditioned worsened, he was not able to care for her anymore. Mum then moved to live in a care home and Dad spent over 12 hours day there to keep her company and to help the nursing team.
Mum passed away on 10 June 2011 and we buried her on 16 June, one month after my birthday. She made her presence known at the funeral with a beautiful ray of sunshine beaming down through the church windows as the service began. And with my heart-shaped wreath falling - that was Mum's way of telling me she was there! Mum is now at peace and will leave forever in the hearts she touched.
