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HELPING PEOPLE REGAIN THEIR LIVES VISABILITY IS GIVING MARIANNE THE TOOLS TO STITCH HER LIFE BACK TOGETHER AFTER A STROKE
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ach day, one hundred Australians will suffer a stroke. It will affect people in different ways, but a third of stroke survivors will suffer vision loss, like Marianne Penberthy who lives in Geraldton, Western Australia.
The stroke led Marianne, a keen fibre work artist, to also encounter memory and mobility issues. Marianne, now 73, once secured a top prize for innovative material use at The Fiberart International Festival in America. She says therapy and support have meant she can return to her love of art again, which is helping her to heal. “Art is therapeutic and restorative and connects the brain to my hands. I particularly like shibori, a Japanese technique of tying, gathering or twisting a piece of cloth before dyeing it. A nurse will use stitches to mend a wound. I am stitching to heal my wounds.”
Marianne had always been interested in art and the dramatic Australian landscape. After she married, she travelled around Australia, visiting Elcho Island and Croker Island and became close to the Yolngu and the Yammirr people, who are the local indigenous communities. She immersed herself in ceramics, selling her work at a local gallery in Kalbarri before relocating to Geraldton. In her midforties, she went to Perth to study for a Bachelor’s Degree in Visual Arts and Textiles. “Looking back, it was an unusual thing to do. I left my boys, then aged 11 and 13, but I received my husband’s blessing,” she says.
VisAbility, an NDIS provider offering services to people with low or no vision, is helping Marianne to live independently. Occupational Therapist Keearny Maher offers support to Marianne in Geraldton, travelling regularly to see her in her own home.
In 2017, her husband of 48 years, Ray, was diagnosed with lung cancer and died just months later. “The stress and trauma led to my stroke. I had a bleed on the right side of my brain that impacted the left side of my body,” says Marianne.
“Most strokes, like Marianne’s, will affect one side of the brain but impact both eyes because nerves from each eye travel together in the brain. Marianne’s stroke affected the right side of her brain, so she suffered vision loss on the left side of both her eyes,” explains Keearny. “Optical aids such as magnifiers, improved lighting, eye and compensatory visual scanning training have all helped Marianne so she can enjoy textile artwork once again.”
On her return, Marianne accepted a role as joint coordinator of the indigenous art and design course at Geraldton Regional TAFE. Her textile artwork was featured in exhibitions internationally, interstate and in West Australia.
She recalls the months after his death and describes them as “dark times”. Marianne couldn’t walk and had constant brain fog along with vision loss.
Marianne with the crocheted mat she stitched together from her late husband’s t-shirts. Photo credit: Jewell Photography.
It was a referral to VisAbility that led to therapy and support services, which helped her regain her life. Her therapy included eye and visual tracking exercises, therapy to develop
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