Dear [FIRSTNAME],
This month we have a great carers story from some one with a lot of experience in the health sector. It proves that experience with carers does not make it easier when you become one.
We also have an array of tips on Money and Health and all the latest info on Government reports and carer projects.
Beginning at the end 
It is with sadness that we announce the passing of Joel Satherly, the son of Zoe, our journalist here at the Gateway. Joel had cerebral palsy, autism, Tourette’s Syndrome and developmental delay, but nothing could hold him back in life. Last year he made a remarkable achievement in receiving a Federal Government National Disability Achievement Award. It was cancer that claimed Joel's life on the 25th of June. On behalf of the Gateway and our auspice DAISI, we pass on our thoughts and condolences to Zoe and her family. Joel was an amazing individual and he will be missed.
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In a recent discussion with a carer, the issue of palliative care came up as he said to me that carers are easier to come by when people have a time frame in mind. This person has a background in the health profession. While it is difficult for everyone to be in a situation where you are planning for someone's life to end, people commit knowing the conclusion, but knowing that their responsibilities will come to an end.
This is the great dilemma for carers. In the vast majority of caring situations, the persons life is cut short through their physical or mental conditions. As this carer relayed to me, 'you don't look to the end as you can never really prepare yourself for what is to come. And any time spent planning for the end is ignoring the present'. But then when the end is reached, carers can be lost in a world of conflicting emotions.
The sadness and loss that is felt by a carer can be shared with family and friends. But no one else can be aware of the guilt and remorse that carers feel when they know a significant burden has ben lifted from their shoulders. We care for someone because we love them, but that does not make an hour of care any less draining.
At the other end of the spectrum, the birth of a child, I remember going to anti-natal classes and learning all about what to expect during my wife's labour. In the end, from my perspective we were all along for the ride and really did not have that many decisions to make. But then we had a baby and we had all the questions in the world. Why did the anti-natal classes not spend more time focusing on what comes next?
This is, I believe, similar to the caring situation in many ways. Can a carer look to what comes next without losing the present? I believe in many way we are along for the ride.
We care because it is what you do for family and loved ones. You never ask what comes next? You just do what you can today, in the hope that tomorrow will be better. What happens when tomorrow turns you upside down is a very personal and individual thing. Not something planned for, not something shared. Just something to be faced with the hope that what comes next is as fulfilling as that which went before it.
