The truth is stark.
For Laura O’Neill, losing her son is a nightmare she can never wake up from.
In 2019, a tragic incident on remote farmland in the Deddick Valley, to the east of McKillops Bridge, took the life of her little blonde-haired, blue-eyed, three-year-old.
Crushed by a side-by-side driven by his father, young Flynn didn’t survive, despite the desperate CPR performed by his parents for two hours before help arrived.
His baby sister, Hollie, was just two years
old and Laura was seven months pregnant
with Penelope.
It’s taken six long years for Laura to be able to say Flynn’s name out loud, but now, in his honour, she has created Flynn’s Legacy, a not-for-profit foundation to financially help farming families who unexpectedly lose a child.
“You think it won’t happen to you, until it does,” Laura says.
“You can’t work, you can’t function.”
Just recently, Laura has written, illustrated and self-published a book, Wanda, the story of a wombat and a wee girl.
It’s based on the true story of how her daughter, Hollie, and a young wombat she named Wanda, created a story to tell.
“It was healing for Hollie, she needed to have that relationship with Wanda.
“They had a beautiful friendship, and she went everywhere with us.
“I also needed to shift my focus, I could
never say his name, and this has kind of
forced me down that avenue, which is probably a good thing.”
Laura was inspired by The Little Jem Foundation, which she found out had paid for her son’s funeral costs.
“Looking back, knowing we didn’t have to make that payment was a huge burden off our shoulders, everything was basically crumbling, we couldn’t pay the mortgage, it was
such a relief because life was completely turned upside down.”
Living at Buchan has also been a gift for Laura and her family, a place she says is a very community-oriented country town.
“The people in it, make it, it’s the closest thing to home,” New Zealand-born Laura says.
“The community here is an irreplaceable aspect, especially bringing children up – it takes a village.
“I’m not okay with what happened to Flynn,” she says, with intense honesty.
“Time doesn’t heal all wounds. You just learn how to cope in different ways.
“There comes a time where it just consumes you less.”
The book, Wanda, doesn’t cover any of that.
What it covers is the relationship of the little sister left behind and the baby wombat her mother found for her.
Wanda the wombat may be roaming the paddocks now, but the support she gave a young girl will be forever remembered.
Penelope is quick to remind her mother that she too has been promised a book, based on Missy Moo the Magnificent pony, who was also Flynn’s pony, and Maggie’s book will be next after that.
The launch of Wanda, the story of a wombat and a wee girl, will be held on Sunday, August 24, from 2.30pm-4.30pm, up on the hill at the Buchan Motel.
The free, family-friendly event will include activities for the kids at the wombat craft station, and copies of the book will be available to purchase.
