Out of the Ashes

On 12 October 2002, an Islamic terrorist group attacked the Indonesian island of Bali: 202 people would die in the explosions which ripped through the Sari Club and Paddy’s Irish Bar in the beach resort of Kuta, with 88 victims being Australian. One of the survivors was a nurse, Therese Fox, who came to be known as the “Miracle Woman of Bali”.

“She had sustained a fractured skull and had suffered burns to 85 per cent of her body. Around 65 per cent of them were serious third degree full-thickness burns.
The heat from the explosion had been so intense it had calcified her elbow joints, and melted the skin from her face, hands and feet.”

Specialists said that she was the most severely burnt patient they had ever treated. No-one expected her to survive and yet against all the odds she did.

In the immediate aftermath of the bombings as Therese wandered dazed and disoriented looking for her missing friend Bronwyn, several individuals came to her rescue including two Australian schoolteachers, Cath Byrne and Rada van der Werff – who is a cousin of mine.

I had been aware of some of Rada’s story previously, but not until I read this extraordinary book did I come to appreciate the extent of her selfless and devoted involvement in the aftermath of the bombings with all their horror and devastation, how she and Cath cared for the survivors and the subsequent tight bond she formed with Therese and her family. (In spite of her own personal tragedy, Rada has found strength in devoting her life to humanitarian work with survivors of disasters and I am so proud that she is part of my family. I hope she writes her own book some day.)

Therese is an heroic and admirable woman whose fight to live in order to be reunited with her children demonstrates her indomitable strength and how the human body is capable of repairing itself. It has been truly humbling to learn about this amazing woman.

At the time of reading this book and writing the review, a warts-and-all expose by a privileged and self-absorbed prince is making millions. If you want to learn about how real ordinary families deal with issues in the face of immense tragedy, mental health breakdowns brought on by loss and emotional heartbreak, then spend your money on this book instead.
 
Five stars
 
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Big W Australia
 
 
PS     On a practical note, the book does need tighter editing to fix spelling and grammatical errors and reduce areas of repetition. They don’t detract from the overall power of the story and perhaps these minor issues will be corrected in any future edition.

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