Full name: Fay Therese Gammel
Birth date: 14th December, 1942
Where were you born? Brighton Private Hospital
What would you say have been the biggest challenges that you have had to overcome in your life?
Two things: losing my mother very suddenly when I was fourteen years old and having a daughter born with severe epilepsy and intellectual disabilities.
Can you explain the day that your mother passed away?
As I left for school my mother walked me to our front gate and kissed me goodbye, as she did every single day. When I returned home in the afternoon my mother wasn’t there as she usually was. As I was putting together some of my mother’s belongings to take to the hospital I had a sudden sense overcome me, a premonition, that she had died. I never saw my mother again.
If you had one more chance to speak to your mum what would you say?
My mum knew that I loved her so what more could I say?
Was there one particular thing that you clutched onto to help you get through that time?
Prayer.
Was your faith in God something with which you were raised or did you arrive at it later in life (or somewhere in between)?
I was always raised as a Catholic but my mother’s sudden death and daughter’s disability really pushed me to find solace in my religion. At the same time though, those two events also tested me greatly. Two pretty bad things had happened to me in under ten years and it really caused me to question why God would have allowed that to have happened.
What changed?
I learnt to find solace in prayer because it’s always given me an answer or a solution.
What has been the scariest moment you have experienced in Tracy’s life?
When she was twenty-two and almost died. She had pneumonia and the hospital called and said that she wouldn’t live and that we needed to come to the hospital straight away to say goodbye.
I made a promise to Our Lady, Mary, that if Tracy lived I would pray with the a rosary every single evening for the rest of my life and I have kept that promise. I say my prayers every single evening and I really believe that that worked. A commitment is a commitment. If your prayers get answered then you have to say thank you.
What’s your biggest life’s regret?
Not going to the hospital to see my mum. I was so scared.
If you had one single wish for you life what would it be?
That my daughter Tracy had a “normal”, ordinary life.
