Community & Business
18 September, 2021
From school to sewing for Mrs Smith
AFTER 32 years of working at Mt Molloy State School, Faye Smith's health has led to her retire from the job she loved but the 67 year old has found another passion to get her out of bed in the morning.
AFTER 32 years of working at Mt Molloy State School, Faye Smith's health has led to her retire from the job she loved but the 67 year old has found another passion to get her out of bed in the morning.
With three kids and a mortgage creating the need to work, Mrs Smith starting her training with Distance Education and was initially assessed to be able to teach lower primary school children, while her Diploma in Business Management enabled her to work in the office as well when the school was smaller.
For over three decades, Mrs Smith worked in the school, grew to love the children she worked with and just got on with life, but in 2016 she suffered a stroke following a brain bleed after a return flight from Melbourne.
She lost her ability for speech and has had to develop new pathways through a process called neuroplasticity, which involves using repetition to help the brain discard its old neural pathways and create new ones to send and retrieve information.
"The children helped me fi nd my words again," Mrs Smith said.
"They had heard about my illness and were just so happy that I was still alive and that I had come back to school that they had endless patience with me during my recovery.
“I miss the children and there have been a lot of tears, but I am on long service leave now and will be replaced in term 1 next year.
“I have started a clothing business doing alterations for people and creating garments from the beautiful scarves and pieces of material I have collected on my travels.
“A good friend has given me the use of a cottage in Mt Molloy for a workshop and I take my pieces to the Port Douglas markets to sell each month. Having that stroke has taught me that we should not question ourselves – we should just get on and do what we want to do in life.”
