{"id":69931,"date":"2018-03-14T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2018-03-13T13:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wesleymission.org.au\/?post_type=news-and-publication&#038;p=69931"},"modified":"2022-05-09T00:03:09","modified_gmt":"2022-05-08T14:03:09","slug":"sarahs-story-from-heartbreak-to-homecoming","status":"publish","type":"news-and-publication","link":"https:\/\/www.wesleymission.org.au\/news-and-publications\/stories-of-hope\/sarahs-story-from-heartbreak-to-homecoming\/","title":{"rendered":"Sarah&#8217;s story: From heartbreak to homecoming"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"69931\" class=\"elementor elementor-69931\" data-elementor-post-type=\"news-and-publication\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section data-particle_enable=\"false\" data-particle-mobile-disabled=\"false\" class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-472ee8d elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"472ee8d\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;jet_parallax_layout_list&quot;:[]}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-3b01608\" data-id=\"3b01608\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4f2638e elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4f2638e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"gmail-msonormal\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-69932 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wesleymission.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Sara-300x200.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wesleymission.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Sara-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/www.wesleymission.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Sara-768x511.png 768w, https:\/\/www.wesleymission.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Sara-600x400.png 600w, https:\/\/www.wesleymission.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Sara.png 868w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>When Sarah was diagnosed with a form of epilepsy at age 21, deep doubts about her future were a constant shadow.<\/p><p class=\"gmail-msonormal\">Following two bouts of brain surgery, Sarah was assured by her doctor that she would be free of any future epileptic seizures. However just three months later, Sarah had another seizure.<\/p><blockquote><p class=\"gmail-msonormal\">\u201cI was so disappointed\u2026 I didn\u2019t want to come back and see the neurologist,\u201d Sarah said.<\/p><\/blockquote><p class=\"gmail-msonormal\">Feeling lost and desperate, Sarah began experimenting with illegal drugs to numb the emotional pain, alongside her partner and father of her two children, April and Aiden, who are now eight and two.<\/p><p class=\"gmail-msonormal\">\u00a0After Aiden was born, the NSW Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) removed Sarah and her partner\u2019s children from their care. Determined to restore her family, Sarah entered a six-month rehabilitation centre.<\/p><p class=\"gmail-msonormal\">While Sarah\u2019s lot started improving, some very practical needs had to be addressed, including finding her a home.<\/p><p class=\"gmail-msonormal\">Sarah found the answer at Wesley Mission.<\/p><p class=\"gmail-msonormal\">Pep, from Wesley Specialist Homelessness Services, organised a place for Sarah and her two children at Wesley Mission\u2019s Noreen Towers, a supported accommodation centre for families who are homeless.<\/p><p class=\"gmail-msonormal\">After Sarah\u2019s first meeting with Pep, she moved into her new home just a week later. The following day, April was released into Sarah\u2019s custody. Shortly after, Aiden also moved into their new home.<\/p><blockquote><p class=\"gmail-msonormal\">\u201cSarah was fortunate because she did have so many services to support her and everything fell into place at the right time\u201d, Pep said.<\/p><p class=\"gmail-msonormal\">\u201cShe got back her kids. A lot of people don\u2019t. In six months she overcame the drugs&#8230; It\u2019s a lot to take on when you\u2019re a single mum. I didn\u2019t do it. She did it herself.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><p class=\"gmail-msonormal\">Pep secured a permanent home for Sarah and her family, and while Sarah continues to struggle with her physical health, she is confident about the future.<\/p><blockquote><p class=\"gmail-msonormal\">\u201cMy goal is to stay normal like this and to always have my kids with me. I don\u2019t want to go through the same path again.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When Sarah was diagnosed with a form of epilepsy at age 21, deep doubts about her future were a constant &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":69932,"parent":29713,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","advanced-sidebar-menu\/link-title":"","advanced-sidebar-menu\/exclude-page":true},"ceo-newsletter":[],"move-to-top-of-sidebar":[],"custom-layouts":[],"exclude-from-nav":[632],"news-and-publications-tags":[629],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2024-05-05 09:09:30","action":"change-status","newStatus":"private","terms":[],"taxonomy":"custom-layouts"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wesleymission.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-and-publication\/69931"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wesleymission.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-and-publication"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wesleymission.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news-and-publication"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wesleymission.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-and-publication\/69931\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wesleymission.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-and-publication\/29713"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wesleymission.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wesleymission.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"ceo-newsletter","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wesleymission.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ceo-newsletter?post=69931"},{"taxonomy":"move-to-top-of-sidebar","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wesleymission.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/move-to-top-of-sidebar?post=69931"},{"taxonomy":"custom-layouts","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wesleymission.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/custom-layouts?post=69931"},{"taxonomy":"exclude-from-nav","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wesleymission.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exclude-from-nav?post=69931"},{"taxonomy":"news-and-publications-tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wesleymission.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-and-publications-tags?post=69931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}