![\"\"](\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/MothersDayClassicBr_67495.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Liz, now 65, was living in Bermuda about seven years ago when she got diagnosed with breast cancer.<\/p>\n
It was extremely stressful but fortunately she could return to Australia for treatment where she had the support of her son and his partner.<\/p>\n
Liz underwent radiotherapy treatment and is now grateful to be able to call herself a survivor.<\/p>\n
She said making the move into Lifestyle Communities Mount Duneed had been a blessing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was living in Waurn Ponds and I drove past on my way to work at the Epworth and I saw it and I thought it looked good because it wasn\u2019t a retirement village,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still had a very big mortgage on my house and I thought I could move into Lifestyle, be able to retire and not have a mortgage.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo many things have opened up to me \u2026 I always had friends when I was in the other place but I realised I was a lot lonelier than I am now because I\u2019ve made a lot of great friends, they are close by and we pop in on each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have canasta competitions, water aerobics, strengthening classes in the gym, darts groups, table tennis teams, a pool competition, barbecues on Wednesday nights during summer, happy hour on Fridays, and we\u2019ve started bingo on Tuesday nights.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is always something to be involved in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lifestyle Communities managing director James Kelly said the team put a lot of effort into the Mother\u2019s Day walk because it was a charity both the company and its homeowners wanted to get behind.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe gave everyone a fantastic pink hat and this great pink T-shirt with \u201cputting your breast foot forward\u201d on the back of it which was really fun,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are by far the largest team to enter so it was almost a military operation to bring the 14 buses in and unload them quickly right on the start line so that no-one was having to walk a long way to get to the start.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n James said the day was just one example of Lifestyle Communities\u2019 dedication to offering a holistic wellness program to all its homeowners that improves their overall fitness, social and emotional wellbeing.<\/p>\n \u201cFifty per cent of homeowners are single women and there is this whole feeling to get re-engaged in a social environment, to get active again, to have purpose but to also be surrounded by like-minded people who all pitch in and get along,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cLoneliness is one of the worst curses you could wish on anyone and I think for single women who are isolated in the suburbs, streets change as lots of first-home buyers move in \u2026 this is an opportunity to be part of something bigger and get re-engaged in a community.<\/p>\n \u201cWe see this blossoming of people who come in quiet and reserved and within six months they start coming out of themselves, and giving more of themselves, and it\u2019s lovely to see. We say \u2018downsize to a bigger life\u2019 and it kind of is right because there is this \u2018seize the moment\u2019 thing happening and we are seeing younger people moving in which is great.\u201d<\/p>\n As for Liz, she is already planning next year\u2019s Mother\u2019s Day Classic Walk.<\/p>\n \u201cMy friends have already said they will do it again with me next year and we are going to put more effort into the fundraising,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" LIZ Sherrey had a very personal reason to join her fellow Lifestyle Communities Mount Duneed homeowners for her first Mother\u2019s Day Classic Walk. The part-time nurse is a breast cancer survivor which made her particularly proud when 487 residents from Lifestyle Communities around Victoria banded together to raise a huge $56,421.60 for the National Breast […]<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/05\/DSC_5338_38501-300x200.jpeg?_t=1621446476\")