Five-year-old Charlize Gravina is leaping down the hallway of her NSW home in a tutu, exclaiming, “I love the sparkles,” as the skirt flips and floats around her. Big sister Amelia, nine, appraises her from the couch. “She only wears dresses that twirl, so she’s in twirling heaven,” she says. Charlize obliges with a pirouette before running over to the wall where there’s a photo of her twin brother. “What do you think, Zacky?” she asks, spinning again. Taking his smile as a sign of approval, she then bounds across the room to model her dress for her mother, Julie.
“She’s very connected to him,” Julie says of Charlize’s twin, Isaac, who died when he was one year and nine months old. “She prays to him to keep her well. She says, ‘Keep me strong, keep me healthy’.”
The cherubic faces of Charlize and Isaac cover the walls of the Gravinas’ home. The family wanted to capture as many memories as possible because they didn’t know how long they would have with the twins. The Weekly has been invited to spend the day learning about the genetic disorder the Gravinas confronted, and their mission to ensure nobody else has to go through what their family endured. It’s a harrowing tale, filled with sorrow, but also hope. Right now, there’s a sense of excitement as Charlize looks forward to performing in her first-ever Christmas concert.
“I always dreamed that she could do something like that,” Julie says. “She’s very excited.”
この記事は The Australian Women's Weekly の Christmas 2020 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は The Australian Women's Weekly の Christmas 2020 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Hitting a nerve
Regulating the vagus nerve with its links to depression, anxiety, arthritis and diabetes - could aid physical and mental wellbeing.
Take me to the river
With a slew of new schedules and excursions to explore, the latest river cruises promise to give you experiences and sights you won’t see on the ocean.
The last act
When family patriarch Tom Edwards passes away, his children must come together to build his coffin in four days, otherwise they will lose their inheritance. Can they put their sibling rivalry aside?
MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN
When Alexei Navalny died in a brutal Arctic prison, Vladimir Putin thought he had triumphed over his most formidable opponent. Until three courageous women - Alexei's mother, wife and daughter - took up his fight for freedom.
The wines and lines mums
Once only associated with glamorous A-listers, cocaine is now prevalent with the soccer-mum set - as likely to be imbibed at a school fundraiser as a nightclub. The Weekly looks inside this illegal, addictive, rising trend.
Jenny Liddle-Bob.Lucy McDonald.Sasha Green - Why don't you know their names?
Indigenous women are being murdered at frightening rates, their deaths often left uninvestigated and widely unreported. Here The Weekly meets families who are battling grief and desperate for solutions.
Growing happiness
Through drought flood and heartbreak, Jenny Jennr's sunflowers bloom with hope, sunshine and joy
"Thank God we make each other laugh"
A shared sense of humour has seen Aussie comedy couple Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall conquer the world. But what does life look like when the cameras go down:
Winter baking with apples and pears
Celebrate the season of Australian apples and pears with these sweet bakes that will keep the midwinter blues away.
Budget dinner winners
Looking for some thrifty inspiration for weeknight dinners? Try our tasty line-up of low-cost recipes that are bound to please everyone at the table.
