Reach Out April 2018

Personal Stories
Cooper’s story
am ten years old and since my brother was born, it’s been
I a twisted life. Lachlan is now six years old and has tuberous
sclerosis complex (TSC). He’s had brain surgery and also
has autism.
It’s not often that you get a good kind of Lachie, but I think
you’ve got to love what you’ve got. We get to play games together,
we love adventures and we love tickling each other.
One of the hardest parts of being Lachie’s big brother is being
woken up early in the morning to be played with. You don’t get
much shut eye with Lachie in the house.
I know that TSC means that Lachie sometimes doesn’t behave
himself. Sometimes he’ll give kisses and hugs; other times he’ll
smack or scratch. It’s his choice, but his brain makes different
choices than our brains.
I talk about Lachie and about how he’s had brain surgery and
how tough it is with him sometimes. I explain that he’s the reason
I don’t always get to school on time and don’t get to play with my
friends a lot. Now that my friends understand, they do play with
Lachie sometimes. I tell them to be careful when touching Lachie.
When I play soccer Lachie sometimes interrupts the game. He
screams out loud and claps. He joins in with our family activities.
My teacher’s brother also has autism but he’s different to
Lachie. I’ve learnt some new things about autism from chatting
with my teacher, like how people with autism can learn things,
but they may need to be shown something a lot of times for them
to learn it.
Having a difficult life means I get to learn how to cope. I get to
teach Lachie things and he teaches me stuff back.
Cooper & Lachlan
One of the hardest parts of being Lachie’s big
brother is being woken up early in the morning to be
played with. You don’t get much shut eye with Lachie
in the house.
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