"Outside a supermarket in Exmouth, a small town 1,250km north of Perth, a man notices Niki carrying Jimmy on her back. She is 152cm tall and he weighs 45kg. He should be carrying you! the man says. Strangers often misjudge Niki's son, who is 30 but looks, she says, like he's eight or nine. Jimmy is blind and has panhypopituitarism, a hormonal disorder that affects fewer than one in 100,000 Australians each year."
"Niki hoists Jimmy on to her back for a walk along the beach in Exmouth. She has always carried him By the time I catch up with Niki and Jimmy, they have spent a month in Exmouth, their longest stay since leaving Ipswich in December 2024. A 78 series Toyota Troop Carrier is home now. Basic necessities are packed tight around a narrow mattress. A photo of baby Jimmy rests next to a map tracing their route: nearly a complete lap of the country."
"Our paths first crossed at South Australia's Kilsby sinkhole, a deep freshwater chamber surrounded by farmland under threat from the groundwater crisis on the Limestone Coast. Niki freedived 20 metres on a single breath, slipping through shafts of light into the darkness, while Jimmy waited topside with fellow divers who had quickly embraced them. I wanted to know more about this remarkable mother and son, and why Niki had chosen this life for them."
Niki cares for her 30-year-old son Jimmy, who is blind and has panhypopituitarism that halted his development, leaving him unable to walk or speak with severe intellectual disability. Niki continuously carries Jimmy and they travel the country living in a 78 series Toyota Troop Carrier with necessities, a narrow mattress and their cat Kiska. They left Ipswich in December 2024 and have almost completed a lap of Australia. Niki practices freediving for calm and clarity, diving to 20 metres in the Kilsby sinkhole while Jimmy waits topside with others who often help and embrace them.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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