When Tammy Dillon was diagnosed with a rare genetic brain disorder, she knew her life was about to change forever.
What she didn’t realise, though, was that it would result in her enrolling in university at 40, and pursuing her newfound love of neuroscience.
“In 2012, I was diagnosed with Chiari Malformation, which is a rare genetic condition that causes the base of the brain, the cerebellum, to push down into the spinal canal,” she says.
“This diagnosis put me into a spin, but the more I tried to understand what it meant, the more fascinated with neuroscience I became.”
After her diagnosis, Tammy was still coming to terms with the recent loss of two close family members, while also navigating life as a single parent to her two children. She says it was at this point that she had what many would call “a midlife crisis”.
“I felt so lost, I had to figure out how I was going to support us if this illness was going to continue to cause me problems.”
With her labour-intensive hospitality job no longer sustainable, she knew she had to change her life for the better.
“I took a deep breath and I applied to university,” she says. “I chose UNE because they support and encourage mature-age study and have flexible online options that I could fit around working and being a mum.”
Tammy was offered a place in the Pathways Enabling Course, which allowed her to ease her way into study and get a feel for the work-study juggle.
Having left school in Year 9, she says this stepping stone made the experience a little “less frightening.
After finishing the Pathways Enabling Course, Tammy was given the green light to enrol in a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Neuroscience and Psychology.
“Go hard or go home, right?” says Tammy.
“I have found myself chuckling sometimes at the notion of becoming a neuroscientist, but to me, where we come from does not have to define where we are going. Everybody had to learn how to walk, so I figured if I tried hard enough, I could learn this too. All I needed to do was give it 100 percent effort.”
Image: Tammy decided to enrol in a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Neuroscience and Psychology.
Lo and behold, she was correct.
Now in the final year of her degree, Tammy has not only excelled academically, but she’s also managed to secure a full-time role working as a laboratory technician in UNE’s School of Science and Technology.
“I am learning so many new skills which will help me to better understand the world around me,” she says.
“My role involves supporting teaching by preparing the practical components of units for students. I also assist the Academic staff with research projects by participating in sample collection and processing. I have learnt so many amazing skills, and I have realised that all I really need to do is have a positive attitude, watch, listen, learn, and give my best effort because that’s what it’s all about.”
Tammy says the unwavering support of those around her has helped her get to this point.
“It’s a mixed bag of family, friends, and colleagues that each give me the courage to keep pushing when I start to doubt myself. There have been several academics at UNE that have given their unwavering support, patience, guidance and the occasional ‘pull yourself together, you’ve got this’ moments.”
With graduation a growing light at the end of a very long tunnel, Tammy is now deciding what to do with her new qualification.
“Originally, I wanted to become a clinical neuropsychologist and help other people with disabilities to live their best life. I am still on the path to my goal, but I am more flexible now to the endless possibilities that coming to UNE has provided me with.
“Who knows where this road will lead me, but if I hadn’t have taken that chance, then I would not be where I am today.”
It’s a similar message Tammy hopes to convey to others who may think education is out of reach. When asked what her top advice would be to those in a similar position that she was in, Tammy had one thing to say:
“My advice to anyone else who has a dream to be something more than they think they could be, is just go for it. If nothing changes than nothing will change.
“Take chances because what will wear you down are not the chances that you take, but the chances you don’t take. If you give it all you’ve got, you will never have to live with regrets, just lessons learnt.
“You’ve got this.”
