Couple reap the benefits of new Wellness Centre and bloom!

Don and Maree Evans from Beaconsfield, Tasmania have a new spring in their step since joining our Wellness Centre in Launceston!

Just a year ago, the couple who have been married for 34 years were living like recluses, too embarrassed to leave the house and to socialise.

Don, 66, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease six years ago and most recently Type 2 Diabetes, says he spent far too much time on the couch and no time in his garden – simply because he couldn’t.

Maree, 62, who also suffers from back problems and her knee after surgery, was finding it hard to look after three of her 12 grandchildren, having no energy to play with them.

She said: “Life was miserable. We were just too embarrassed to go anywhere and spent all of our time on the couch watching TV and the last thing I wanted to do was to take the grandchildren out and meet people.”

All that changed however, after Don was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, when the doctor put him on a health plan and recommended the Wellness Centre to both him and Maree.

In just a short space of time, the couple is blooming, saying the biggest reward has been being able to get back into their garden to grow their own produce again.

“I’ve lost weight, my temper is better and I am sleeping better. I love to box and I love the social aspect – we have made so many new friends and we even go swimming a few times a week" said Don.

“I wish we had done this years ago, as now we are out all the time I can plant my strawberries and I just feel so much happier.”

Maree too has reaped the benefits joining our Wellness Centre community and learning to ride an exercise bike and completing 15-minute workouts on a regular basis.

She added “We come here three days a week and we love it. We have been sitting down for far too long and it has given us a new lease on life.”