Bushfire survivor Turia Pitt says the idea of having children with her long-time partner Michael Hoskin was one of the first things she questioned after waking from her coma.
Pitt confirmed she and fiancé Michael are expecting their first baby, and they have shared all the private details in an extraordinary new interview in the July issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly.
Burns survivor Turia says that the prospect of having a child with her childhood sweetheart Michael was one of the thoughts that gave her hope, steadied her will and sharpened her determination to survive after the horrific bushfire that almost claimed her life in 2011.
In the interview, Turia, 29, says that having a child was one of the first questions she asked doctors after she awoke from a coma.
“One of the first questions I asked was if I would still be able to have children,” Turia tells The Weekly. “I always get asked if I can have children. People assume that I cannot because I have been burned but the doctors never said, ‘You’re going to struggle’, never said I had to adjust my expectations. On the inside, everything is fine.”
Turia, who is now into the second trimester of her pregnancy, says that her term is going smoothly with fiancé Michael by her side.
“In many ways, that was one of the main things that helped me keep going during the recovery and helped me find the will to keep going. Having Michael there beside me was important but so was the thought we could have children. That thought gave me hope that one day Michael and I would have a family.”
Turia, who was just 24 when she suffered her life-changing injuries, was caught in a bushfire in a remote section of the Kimberley six years ago. She fought an incredible battle just to survive, suffering burns to 64 per cent of her body.
Now, she has achieved one of her life’s ambitions – to become a mother – and she will look to her own mother Celestine for her inspiration.
“I will probably be most like my mum who’s loving and very overboard about it,” Turia tells The Weekly. “She’s always there for you, no matter what. If I was like my mum that would be really cool.”
Turia discovered she was pregnant as she was preparing to go to Nepal to trek the lower slopes of Mt Everest for charity.
Photography: Peter Brew-Bevan
Read more about Turia, Michael and their happy news in the July edition of The Australian Women’s Weekly, on sale now.
