It will be five years next month since Millie Trustum beat lymphoma and as a first year student in high school she is keen to put trauma behind her.
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However she maintains focus on one big thing in her life - giving back to other kids with cancer.
She works in partnership with her grandmother Elaine, and together they share the family beef property at Tatham via Casino.
Central to their tenet, the pair make craft and sell their wares at local farmers markets and at an annual big morning tea at their local hall, come September. All monies made go to charity while costs are donated as well. Time spent is not counted.
"I crochet the dolls' outfits while I'm watching television in the evening," says Elaine, pleased for the creative outlet.
All the wool and buttons have been kindly donated, often from deceased estates.
"I sit Barbie on my knee and I say to her: What will I put on you?"
Crocheted bedspreads and throw rugs make up some of the larger items in her portfolio, perhaps earning $50 at a big morning tea to provide comfort and quality for the fortunate buyer.
"My grandmother taught me as a 14 year old," Elaine recalls. "Mum did a lot of knitting and used to crochet big bed spreads." She points out a crocheted blanket on her grandmother's century-old brass bed. Gracing the pillow is a Barbie doll dressed in her crocheted bridal gown, train included, created in a fine, needle-point technique.
"It all started after Millie got sick," Elaine says, recalling how her husband Darcy fell ill with the same disease just prior and had only just recovered at the time. It was fortunate, in hindsight, that a calf kicked him in the groin, as the injury led to a hospital visit where his blood was tested and the cancer discovered.
But their granddaughter's illness at such a tender age was hard to bear for a grieving family.
"We'd go to visit Millie in hospital and cry all the way home not sure if we would see her again."
Elaine threw her thoughts into craft.
"I said to myself I want to do something for Millie and I knew she loved her Barbies."
She also understood her granddaughter's enthusiasm for footy legend Cody Walker, so Elaine crocheted-up a woollen jersey to fit Barbie's boyfriend Ken - in Rabbitohs colours - complete with a number 6 stitched into the knit.
The solution to survival for Millie was a bone marrow transplant donated by her sister Olivia and while recovery was a challenge - first she had to regain the strength of her emaciated legs - the fighter is back, a gleaming head of hair included.
Interestingly her grandfather's full head of hair all came back after his ordeal, his just as grey as before.
The joy of life has spurred Elaine and Millie on in their pursuit to help fund childhood cancer research, with all funds raised being donated to The Kids' Cancer Project.
"This national charity funds research into better and kinder childhood cancer treatments and hopefully one day a cure," says Elaine.
The charity requires funding and the Trustum women are pulling their hardest.
For more practical purpose, Elaine creates carry-all bags, 77 to date, all sewn from used feed sacks of the woven kind - in particular those with pictures of animals.
Elaine upcycles the vibrant fabric by sewing it onto a webbed harness capable of carrying many kilos.
"I prefer the sacks with animals on them," she says, hinting strongly that donations of said items would be most welcome.
"I am worried the feed companies will stop printing sacks that look as good as these."
Millie is adept at manufacturing jewellery - expandable bracelets a hallmark along with moulded earrings, with the cancer bow logo embossed into baked plastic. Her parents' oven suffices for that task.
Millie also designed a T-shirt for the cause, with all the colours of the rainbow, each representing different variants of childhood cancer.
Together Elaine and Millie bake a host of goods suitable for a royal feast and the scale of their operation is shown by the number of egg shells ready for the garden compost.
"For last year's big morning tea I went through 40 pounds of butter," says Elaine.
"It takes six eggs to make a giant sponge like the kind my mother used to make. And they were baked in a wood-fire oven. My dad used to fire it up and test how hot it was by the feel of his hand."
