There are conversations that keep coming back to you, like words of hope and heart that pop into your head, and days after you’ve stopped recording. My conversation with Willa Arantz is one of them.
You might know Willa through Racine, the much-loved bakery and café she runs with her husband, Shaun, in Orange. I certainly knew the almond croissants.
But behind that busy business is a mother whose family faced an extraordinary amount of loss and uncertainty just as her son began boarding school.
Willa grew up in Murrurundi and loved her own years at boarding school. Almost thirty years later, those friendships remain close. She wanted her children to experience that same independence, friendship and opportunity, even with good schools available locally.
Then, during Eddie’s first term away, her father died. Eddie and his grandfather had been especially close.
The next day, Willa attended an MRI appointment already booked to investigate a tremor and changes in her speech. The scan found a tumour. Further testing later confirmed brain cancer.
Around her surgery, the family also said goodbye to their elderly dog, who had been a wedding present, and learnt they would have to leave their home of ten years.
“It all sort of happened at once,” Willa tells me.
What followed was surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, alongside the everyday demands of family and a business that still needed to operate. Willa speaks honestly about the gaps in her memory and the sense of going onto autopilot, doing whatever needed to be done.
Leaving the doctor’s office after her diagnosis, Eye of the Tiger came on the radio.
“That’s it. I am fighting this. I am not going down.”
One of the most moving parts of our conversation is her gratitude that Eddie was being cared for at school. With pastoral support and counselling available, he had somewhere to take his worries while she concentrated on treatment.
Recovery has brought its own challenges. Willa describes difficulties with speech, balance and coordination, and the satisfaction of gradually reclaiming things she loves. Painting has given her quiet, purpose and a space to feel like herself.
There is humour here, too. Willa is wonderfully candid about motherhood, work and trying to get a teenager home to help with the technology.
I came away thinking about the people who help hold a family together when a parent needs care. I think you will, too.
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