About five years ago my mum bought a house in Mirrabooka. The house was great, it had three bedrooms, spa, pool (and everything else a normal house has) just what we wanted.
Not knowing the house was near a landfill site that dumped everything and anything, right down to hospital waste and gases.
After living there for a couple of weeks we realised how dusty the place was getting half hour after just cleaning, and that there was black mulch landing in our pool, that didn’t come from our neighbours houses as they didn’t use that type of mulch. It was disgusting!
Mum then started asking around and it turned out there was a rubbish dump about 100 metres behind our back fence. It didn’t worry us that much at first, but then Corrine (my sister) and I started to get sick, with what we thought was the flu, a lot more often. Then mum started getting sick and having days off work. She thought this was weird because none of us, hardly ever got sick!
After seeing a few doctors we found one that told us to move down south, somewhere, where there is fresh clean air. So we did.
We now live in
The beaches here are gorgeous, especially Greens pool and boat harbour. But we don’t usually go there, we go to ocean beach, because it’s closer and has great waves!
Because we are home schooled we can take our books to the beach and do the work there. But that’s hardly ever happened.
The best restaurant here is lushes, (or lions den) they use organic food and drinks. It tastes really yummy!
But we can’t go there anymore because they just recently painted lushes and at the lions den they have used a new chemical on the garden. Which totally sucks.
Anyway, the illness that I have is MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitivity)
Which is where we are allergic to chemicals. Chemicals such as pesticides, paints, perfumes and a lot of other things. It stops us from being able to do a lot of things. Things like going to a public school, some shopping centres, go to some beaches where there are a lot of people that might be wearing sunscreen, perfume/deodorants etc.
Just recently the council sprayed. It really sucks because we cant go outside (to certain areas) without getting headaches, sore throat, chest pains etc.
Corrine, mum and I, all can’t wear cosmetics, perfumes, hairsprays, certain types of material, use soaps, shampoos, conditioners etc, that have any type of scent to them.
When we come in contact with chemicals we get, rashes, headaches, joint pains, chest pains, stomach pains, sore throats, watery/itchy eyes, red and hot ears, burning mouths, blocked or runny noses, dizziness, hot and cold flushes, mood swings and some other stuff. Sometimes the reactions don’t come until a while after, but usually, for me, it is straight away.
My sister and I are really close we do almost everything we can together, except when it comes to guys. We are only 10 months apart, and we always have people asking if we are twins because we look so much alike which is kind of cool. We are usually attracted to the same guys, with the same guys liking us, but not always.
We have awesome personalities and a fair amount of friends, which have a slight understanding of our illness.
Corrine and I hardly ever fight or argue. But when we do it doesn’t last that long. Which is good J
Some of the things we like to do are, go to the beach, and hang with friends, chill at home, listening to the latest music and partying. But usually when we party its just Corrine and I.
My best friends name is Jedda. She just recently
moved to
When she lived down here we (Jedda, Corrine and I) used to do everything together. We spent everyday together, well almost everyday. It was so cool J .
In the future I am going to study hard to become a lawyer or/and a counsellor. I want to become one of them because I like to help people and they are well-paid jobs. Mum says I would be good at them because I’m good at listening to people’s problems and sorting them out. (And I’m argumentative when I need to be)
Over the years my decisions have changed, like most others would. I wanted to be a fashion designer, but when I did a textile denim-designing course I realised I wouldn’t be any good at that. I also wanted to be a doctor, but I wouldn’t be able to because I freak out whenever I see a needle or even a deep cut.
There are still a few things I want to do in life
but I doubt they will ever happen. One of them is to become a singer in a band
or something, because many people say I have a good voice. And I would like to
go to
Sometimes I wish we never moved from
I sort of am a normal teenager, just unable to do certain things, which is kind of a good thing because after reading and seeing some of the things that chemicals can do to you, it is a little bit scary. Like that young boy who walked on round up (a type or pesticide used to spray on weeds to kill them), he got sick and then died.
There are many other people with MCS that just don’t know it. And because it’s not recognised in some places, even the doctors have no idea what’s causing the people to be sick 24/7 when exposed.
Which is kind of sad really!?! L
There isn’t really much more I can say about my life or anything really.
Just that people who want to stay healthy and not have an illness like this, the stop using all chemicals and eat good organic healthy food. Also try not to drink and wash in town water because they usually use chlorine in it to keep it clean. Eww!.
Written by Sherree
xxxxx
Click on Next page to move to the next subject.
