Video Transcription
National Carers Week – Moana Hope Interview
I’m Moana Hope, but most people probably know me as Mo.
So, my little sister Vinny, she was born with Moebius Syndrome.
Best way to understand it is, she’s 25, but still developing from quite a young age.
So, still help her to shower, to get dressed, go to the toilet by ourselves, you know, she basically needs that 24/7 care.
I remember the day my mum asked me to take on Vinny, um, asked me if I would take care of Vinny forever, I guess, and I didn’t think about it twice—literally got Vinny to pack her bags
and took her on the spot.
It was something that I was like, “Yeah, cool, I’ll take her, 100 percent.”
Every decision I made in life from that point on needed to involve Vinny.
I’m teaching her how to become an adult or a teenager in a sense, so definitely not gonna sit here and say, you know, it’s easy, because it’s not.
You know, when I first took on Vinny, I just thought I was the protector, she’s…you know, I just got to try and do it all myself, and I was basically… I was just basically driving myself into the
ground of, you know, trying to take on everything alone without seeking more help, and I think the best advice I can give is you don’t have to do it alone.
I think there is help there. Whether it’s, you need to talk to someone, or getting someone to come to help for a day, or that’s getting someone to come in and be there, get assistance for a day, or just whatever it is, it’s okay to put yourself first once every now and then.
I think that is definitely important.
I think there needs to be more conversation, you know,
I’ve met people who take care of their parents and they don’t even know that they’re a carer and they’re struggling, and I know some people are going through depression because of that, and I know some people that are financially almost losing their house because they don’t know how to get help or what to do.
We need to talk about it more, it needs to be more of an open conversation so that we can do better things.
Why do I care? It’s a really good question.
I wouldn’t change it for the world,
you know, if you said to me, “Hey Mo, here’s a million bucks, we’ll keep Vinnie,” I’d take Vinnie, because you can’t buy the love that she gives and you can’t, you can’t replace that with anything, you know?
I love her and I’ll do anything for her.
Find out about being a young carer
Video by Carers Australia
