A TREE CHANGE to the lush, balmy surrounds of the NSW northern rivers region would be a dream come true for many Australians, and when work brought Ben Rickard and his wife, Anna, from Brisbane to Alstonville in early 2013, the couple embraced their new surrounds.
But soon after the move, a camping trip with friends changed the family’s life forever. Ben, 35, a doctor, and Anna, 34, an occupational therapist, have three children — Lola, seven, Violet, four, and Eddie, six months — and on that trip, Violet, then 14 months old, became very ill with a stomach bug and unexpectedly began to lose her motor skills.
“We’d had a few concerns about her physical development, but nothing really alarming at that stage,” says Anna. “She’d met all her…