![Helen Price on her family’s 250-hectare property, “Fernlea”, Bannister. Helen Price on her family’s 250-hectare property, “Fernlea”, Bannister.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-agfeed/2072156.jpg/r0_0_1024_683_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
SUPERMUM Helen Price still finds it hard to believe she is blessed with children.
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Twenty-six years after she gave birth to her first son, the Bannister mother-of-four recalls how a rare cancer meant she might never have had children.
“I always planned on having four children – two boys and two girls, but it didn’t happen that way,” Mrs Price said.
“Instead, I got three beautiful boys and one gorgeous girl to finish off.”
Now, Nathan, 26, owns a welding operation and a concrete agitator business.
Luke, 23, is a shearer and works on the family property, “Fernlea” in between jobs.
Bradley, 22, works at Goulburn Workers Club and helps out on the farm and Emma, 20, has a career in real estate.
As a mother Helen said she couldn’t be more proud of her children and what they had achieved in their short lives.
“The best thing about being a mother is seeing my children happy,” Mrs Price said.
She has been married to Chris Price for 29 years and together they manage “Fernlea”, a mixed farming operation of 1200 head of sheep across 250 hectares as well as running four poultry sheds.
Early in their marriage Mrs Price fell pregnant and as she had developed hydatidiform mole cancer, she lost their baby.
The cancer is one of the most curable, but it wasn’t going away.
Mrs Price’s titre levels were high so she was treated with a course of chemotherapy.
If the chemotherapy didn’t work Mrs Price faced the possibility of a hysterectomy.
She was just 24 years old.
“Having children was everything to me,” Mrs Price said.
“It was a very scary time for us.
“Fortunately I came through the chemotherapy and fell pregnant with my little bundle of joy 12 months later.”
Mrs Price had her children in quick succession, all the while working alongside her husband on the farm.
Bradley, their third child, has Down syndrome.
“I was always going to have another child after Bradley, I just hadn’t planned it as soon,” she said.
“But when Emma came along she was a godsend.
“She came to all of Bradley’s therapy sessions with us and started doing what Bradley was supposed to and of course he then wanted to do what she was doing.
“It was a natural progression for Bradley to try and keep up with her, so it helped with his development.”
While the children were growing up the family ran a seed potato business, and the children did their bit too.
At the time, Mrs Price was also the administrator at the local preschool.
Still running the prime lamb side of the business, the couple took on the poultry farm 12 years ago.
Mrs Price has continued working at Crookwell Preschool one day a week, while two days a week she does bookwork for Nathan’s business, and in between she cleans the poultry sheds and keeps the farm books up to date.
She also works unpaid as treasurer for the Bannister Bush Fire Brigade and sits on the committee for Growing Abilities Goulburn.
“Chris and I have worked hard together as a team to build a strong future for our children,” Mrs Price said.
“Our children have always been our incentive.”