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The twin quilts that love made

Posted on December 30, 2011

By ALAN ERSKINE

BEING diagnosed with breast cancer – followed by five years of intensive chemotherapy treatment – sent a lot of thoughts and mixed emotions running through the mind of Mildura mother of two Lesley Battle, 61.

A delighted Nicole gets her special gift from Mum.

With hubby Tony also having his own personal battle with cancer, Lesley wondered what she could leave as a lasting memory for her family, just in case she or Tony, also 61, didn’t make it to a ripe old age.

So the amateur sewing and embroiderer enthusiast started on two large amazing quilts of love – using techniques and materials that go back to our pioneering days – and after many thousands of hours spread over the past four years…they’re finally finished!

This is not just a story of a battle with cancer, a love of life and a love of family… this is a story of survival, of love lost and found again, of travel and laughter, and above all, of hope for the future.

Tony tells of growing up in Balranald, leaving school at 15 to join the then Postmaster- General’s Department, working the telephone switchboards of the NSW western district, including Hay, Deniliquin and Berrigan.

He had left the postal service and was driving trucks at Hillston, also in Western NSW, when he met Lesley in the local milk bar.

They married on November 7, 1970, and after Tony joined the regular Army, travelled to various bases around Australia, broken by a short spell in Malaysia.

But 10 years of Army life had put a strain on the marriage, and after Tony’s discharge in 1981, and while living in Sydney, the couple separated, and later divorced.

Lesley stayed in Sydney, and Tony made his home in Mildura, where one of their daughters, Nicole, also made her home after her marriage.

As the years passed, Nicole had two sons, but during her third pregnancy, she became so ill that Lesley travelled from Sydney to help care for her and the boys. Over the next few months, Lesley and Tony saw lots of each other, the friendship and romance was re-kindled, and they eventually began talking about renewing their wedding vows.

Family and friends were delighted, and started planning another wedding, but Tony and Lesley decided to play it low-key the second time around. Tony made an appointment with a marriage celebrant at Swan Hill, and just like in the movies, the pair eloped, driving off into the sunset for another date with destiny…they were re-married on November 7, 1998, exactly 28 years – to the day – of their first wedding.

And both say they have been on their second ‘honeymoon’ ever since, doing a bit of travelling, spending time with daughters Theresa, 39, and Nicole, 38, and helping look after Nicole’s six boys. “Three of them have already got their black belt in Taekwondo,” Lesley says proudly.

She says Tony has been hugely supportive of her in the 13 years since they were re-married, not just during her battle with breast cancer, but also showing a lot of patience when she hit the sewing machine at all hours of the day and night for extended periods to make a wide variety of quilts in all sizes, shapes, colours and patterns, with the undoubtable highlight being the two special candlewicked quilts for her two girls.

“It was great therapy in the wake of some intense chemo treatment at the Peter McCallum Institute in Melbourne,” she said. “Only those who have had the treatment, and experienced the ‘chemo-fog’ that you live with forever, will understand, but hopefully now there’s a huge light at the end of the tunnel.”

While quilt-making has meant a renewed lease of life for Lesley, it’s also been a Godsend for immediate members of the family, other relatives, friends and neighbours who have been on the receiving end of some beautiful quilts…even the family dog has a specially-made quilt on his favourite couch! And Lesley has some wonderful words of praise for fellow members of the Mildura Embroidery Guild, friends who have given her great encouragement and support over the years.

In the ‘cancer stakes,’ Tony knows exactly what Lesley is going through…he’s having his own battle, undergoing a pelvic re-construction after a diagnosis of bone cancer that resulted in a stem cell transplant.

He tells a great story of sitting in a Geelong hospital waiting room, surrounded by a dozen or so fellow patients, and answering a mobile phone message from his surgeon, advising that during his surgery the medical team had taken about 7.9 million live stem cells from him, they had used three million to ‘repair’ him, leaving 4.9 million in the ‘bank for future use if needed.

Tony could see lots of interest in the room as he thanked the surgeon for using the three million, and agreed that 4.9 million in the bank would come in handy….”they all thought I was talking about Tatts, but this was better than winning any lottery,” he said.

With a little probing, Tony tells of a few other ‘slight’ medical procedures…three total knee replacements on his right leg, and a total reconstruction of his left knee, the result of an incident from his Army days, when he fell from the rear of a truck and was dragged along for a few yards, his leg crumbling under him.

Neither of them are complaining…they live day by day, and try not to think about the cancer that might return at any time.

But Lesley for one is ecstatic that she has finished the twin quilts that are destined to become family heirlooms…and designed to be used, not just for show.

Theresa, a nurse, and Nicole knew they were getting a quilt each…they just didn’t know which one…and both are amazed and thrilled at the care and attention to detail that their mum has patterned into the exquisite quilts…even more so after reading the private and personal message of love that Lesley has sewed into each one.

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