‘Helping my mum is so rewarding!'

Tracey is forever grateful to her daughter and fulltime carer Samantha

- Brigid Auchettl

Every mother thinks their child is particularly special but none more so than Queensland mother Tracey Bygrave, who describes daughter Samantha as her “guardian angel”.

“I don’t think I’d be alive if it wasn’t for Sam,” says Tracey, 43, who suffers from debilitating mental and physical health illnesses. “She’s the most amazing human being in the whole world.”

Samantha began caring for her mum and eight-year-old sister Jessica when she was just 11 years old.

Juggling the transition to high school and daily chores was a struggle for Samantha, now 18, who reflects on how those initial years caring for her mother were the toughest.

“I had to mature a lot so I could take care of my mum and my sister,” Samantha tells