By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
TO SAY Annemarie Cross is thankful to be celebrating Mother’s Day with her mum this Sunday is an understatement.
The Hallam-based, self-made business woman almost lost her mother, Jos Berends, to bowel and lung cancer after she was first diagnosed with the disease early last year.
But the tough 94-year-old, who grew up in war-torn Holland, has recently beaten the illness and her daughter counts every day as a blessing.
“She had two major operations – she had part of her bowel removed and then six weeks later she had the bottom third of her left lung removed,” Annemarie said.
“She has had ongoing assessments throughout that period and she still sees specialists, but the doctors removed the cancer, she went back a month ago and it was all clear.
“Every day, we consider it a blessing to have her with us.”
Annemarie had no doubt that being a child growing up in Europe in the midst of World War II shaped her mother’s fighting spirit.
“My parents grew up in the war, if they wanted something they had to work for it and their honesty and integrity always influenced me,” Annemarie said.
“Their teenage years and more were spent during the conflict. Later, when they got married the guests were all given a cup of tea and that was a huge privilege for them, for many, many years they started off with nothing.”
As a result, Annemarie told of how her parents had always emphasised the importance of hard work to their daughter, even at a young age.
“Rather than give me pocket money from a young age, they encouraged me to work for my income,” Annemarie said.
“So, by the age 10, I had multiple streams of income, generated from house cleaning and feeding animals for two neighbours, opening up my own fertilizer business and later as I got older – baby sitting.”
Annemarie, now a self-employed career and business coach, will spend Mother’s Day this Sunday spoiling Jos along with her family and friends.
“I’m so thankful to have had such an incredible role model, and the lessons she taught me have stayed with me for life,” she said.
