Ellie Cole's Couch - Christine on her daughter's legacy | Disability Employment Services

Christine is inspired by the memory of her daughter

Christine found strength after suffering the loss of her daughter, and despite her own health concerns, is passionate about empowering others.

“My second daughter was born premature at 26 weeks, so she was in the hospital for quite some time. She was diagnosed with chromosome ring 22 and cerebral palsy.”

Further complications from newly diagnosed conditions sent her daughter into seizures and organ regression, eventually passing away two months before her 11th birthday. Christine recalls many fond memories, including her love of heavy metal!

“[She was] Gorgeous, cheeky. Mischievous, into everything. She used to go into her sister's bedroom, and she loved really loud banging heavy metal music. My daughter would have the music on, and she'd stand up at the stereo just banging her head.”

Christine is a Business Manager at APM for the New England region. Her personal experience has a huge impact on her approach to work.

“It's just the experience I've had, I can use that on a day-to-day basis to try and help someone. My ultimate goal ever since having my disabled daughter, is to just advocate for people with illness, injury or disability.”

Christine has also been diagnosed in recent years with Addisons (adrenaline glands malfunction) and Reynolds (blood cell failure). Through support from APM she can manage her health conditions and still perform her role.

“I love the inclusiveness of APM. When I was first diagnosed with all this stuff, I couldn't have got better support from them.”

She is also an integral part of the local community. Whether she’s on the clock or not.

"Even on a Saturday or a Sunday, if you're going downtown for a coffee, you can guarantee you're going to run into a participant, or an employer," she said.

"You might go down for a half hour coffee, and it's two and a half hours later you're getting home."

But it’s the memory of her daughter that has the most impact and remains at the core of why Christine continues to give as much as she does, every day.

"I also knew in my heart that she would want me to keep going and help people the way I helped her and that's why I do what I do."

Ellie Cole’s Couch

In this incredible series, Ellie sat down with team members from across APM to discuss how their own experience with disability motivates and inspires them to support people with disability.

See more of these conversations and how APM’s diverse and dedicated team members deliver on our shared purpose of enabling better lives, on the Our people page.