OUR FOUNDER’S STORY
THERE IS A STORY BEHIND EVERY NAME.
In 1975, when I was 2 and a half years old, my baby brother arrived
into the world. His name was Danny and
he was born with Down Syndrome.
I didn't get to grow up living with Danny, as in those days it was
viewed that the best place for him would be
with hospice state care. You have to remember this was the 70's and
very different times.
I was heartbroken. The dreams of having a baby brother to play with
were destroyed. My baby brother was
taken away and I was too young to understand what had just
happened.
Over the years we'd go to visit Danny and I remember always being
confused and frustrated why he
couldn't come home with us.
I think my parents deeply regretted the decision that they had been
pushed to make, but like I say it was
different times and so the topic of Danny was generally
avoided.
Danny eventually ended up being adopted by Ray and Joan Hall. A
caring family who loved Danny like their
own son.
After he'd been adopted, I lost contact with Danny. I think there
was a sense of relief that he was safe with
the Halls now.
But sadly when I was around 21, Danny passed away in a house fire
from smoke inhalation.
Around 5 years ago I was told that after 25 years, if you haven't
found the plot of where someone had been
buried, that plot can be removed or erased and you would never find
them.
So we went on this kind of crusade... I wanted to find out about my
brother and his life.
I managed to track down the Halls and hear about the amazing life
Danny lived. How much they spoiled him,
his love of music and Mars bars and the footy (so much of me in him)
The Halls lived and breathed what it means to provide
people-centered care and have been a huge
inspiration for me in setting up Danny Met Sally.
I wanted to honour my brother and lift the standard of disability
care in Australia. I want every person with
a disability to be treated like a family member, rather than a
client. And I take that pledge so seriously I
named the company after Danny, along with a lady called Sally who my
partner used to care for.
Sally was a nurse & had a daughter. She loved cats and took in any
strays. Her favourite was
Wagon-Train who was 1 of 10 in Sally’s home and they were
INSEPARABLE.
Sally was diagnosed with a rare condition called Charcot-Marie-Tooth
and was deemed a
quadriplegic. This changed the rest of her life. No longer able to
walk, shower or dress herself. In
the last few months of her life, she had Support Workers with her 24
hours a day in her home.
Sally was funny, generous and was never afraid to tell you what she
wanted. Her favourite pastimes were watching her beloved Hawthorn, Coronation Street and
listening to the Beatles.
Sally could and would talk to anyone, she made good friends with her
neighbours, Support
Workers and even her access cab driver. Sally liked things done a
certain way, sometimes to the
millimetre.
Meeting the right workers and team was crucial to making sure this
could be achieved for and
with her.
Sally sadly passed away in her home, surrounded by her daughter and
those closest to her,
listening to The Beatles. Wagon-Train passed away days after Sally,
they really were inseparable.
Remembered and loved forever, she is dearly missed.