Family’s mother of all awards

By Casey Neill
BORONIA mum Mary Bell’s reaction to her Mother of the Year nomination was not what you might expect.
Ms Bell was one of three finalists in the Barnardos Victorian Mother of the Year Award.
“I was pretty embarrassed! I didn’t feel like I’d done a lot,” she said.
“But when I was forced to confront the past 30 years I realised that my daughter was very proud of what I’d done as a mother.”
She was nominated for the award by her daughter Donna Marsh.
Ms Bell attended an award ceremony and morning tea at Melbourne’s Vibe Savoy Hotel on 7 April.
To her relief, she was not selected to compete for the Australian title.
“To be honest, I was nervous about winning,” she said.
“My nerves were bad enough with just the Victorian awards!”
The 52-year-old’s twin sons Scott and Adam were born nine weeks premature.
Both needed intensive care treatment and several operations early in their lives.
Scott, now 29, has severe cerebral palsy, mild autism and epilepsy.
Donna was born with a club foot and also required a number of operations.
Ms Bell’s marriage ended when the three children were toddlers.
“I can sympathise with a lot of single mothers,” she said.
“It was a difficult time, but then I met a wonderful man, my husband.”
Ms Bell married Robert, who had three daughters of his own, 21 years ago.
She said combining their families was not easy.
“It was a big ask to join the two families but we survived,” she said.
“It wasn’t the Brady Bunch as seen on TV but they were happy times.”
Together they had another daughter, Laura.
Now 20, she has struggled with chronic fatigue for the past eight years.
As if things weren’t difficult enough, the family lost their home, car and plumbing supply business during the recession of the late 1980s.
“We struggled,” Ms Bell said.
She said she was grateful for community support from the local church, her family and friends.
“I was lucky to have family support, especially from my mother,” she said.
“My mother helped tremendously with my eldest sons, she was the backbone of my support.”
Ms Bell is now a proud grandmother of six. “It’s lovely to see your children moving on and having their own children,” she said.
Mt Martha’s Meagan Macdonald, 25, will represent Victoria in the Barnardos Australia’s Mother of the Year Award.
The winner will be announced on in Sydney on Thursday 8 May.