IT took almost 40 years for Lynden Kronk to reunite with his older sister – then only a matter of months to lose her forever.
Now the South Morang personal trainer is raising money to help children with cancer in memory of his sister Suzanne Baldwin, who died last year aged 52.
Mr Kronk was four when his parents’ marriage broke down and their seven children were split up. ‘‘I don’t have a lot of memories of her then. She was the oldest, and about 10 years older than me,’’ he says.
But last year his mother contacted him to say Suzanne had lung cancer and a few months to live, so he rushed to Queensland to be with her.
Then their hopes were raised. ‘‘She was given the all-clear. Instead of a couple of months to live, she was in remission and told she would live five or six years,’’ he says.
There was a lot of catching up to do, but now the brother and sister had time to get to know each other and Kronk returned to Melbourne to plan his next trip to see her.
‘‘Then a few months later I got a call from mum saying Suzie was back in hospital; in palliative care with a brain tumour.’’ He flew to Brisbane and sat by her side. One by one, other brothers and sisters arrived.
Then more bad news. ‘‘The doctors told us that it had gone from one brain tumour to 19 in three days and it wouldn’t be long,’’ he says. ‘‘She hung on, she amazed them; there was still one brother left to come.’’
When the last brother arrived, Suzanne spent time sharing her life with them. ‘‘Suzie was over the moon. It was what she wanted but never thought was possible. She saw us all together again and so did our mum,’’ he says. ‘‘Suzie had amazing clarity, and then at other times . . . ’’
Kronk spent three weeks with his sister until she died on September 22 last year. ‘‘I have watched two sisters die – my younger sister was 17 and I was 20 when she died in my arms from an asthma attack,’’ he says. ‘‘Some people may say I was cheated to have so little time with Suzie, but I look on the positive. We could have gone the rest of our lives without catching up and we finally did see each other.’’
Kronk is honouring his sister by fund-raising throughout October for the charity, Challenge, supporting kids with cancer.‘‘My partner’s son, Jamie, is 14 and has leukaemia and luckily is in remission,’’ he says.
‘‘Cancer is heartbreaking but with adults at least they’ve had a chance to live their lives, but kids haven’t lived at all.’’
Kronk will hold numerous fund-raising events this month, including having a design shaved into his hair, a silent auction, car boot sale and various fitness events at his workplace, One Health and Fitness at South Morang.
■ Details: call 9436 6122.
