CANBERRA’S Caterina Sullivan picked up a set of knitting needles four years ago when her life turned upside down after being diagnosed with a brain tumour.

Stitch after stitch, row after row, knitting became a calming distraction for the then 23-year-old, allowing her to focus on other things than her medical prognosis.

“The tumour was tiny, but it was sitting on the wrong spot on my pituitary gland,” says Sullivan.

“I was sick all the time, I had migraines every two days, hot flushes, and erratic mood swings. It was horrible.”

Life was to throw up further challenges for Sullivan, a sustainability advocate and 2017 Young Australian of the Year finalist. Not only did she have to battle a brain tumour, she also suffered from three strokes, and had to learn to walk again.

“I couldn’t move from the neck down,” she says.

“I could barely eat, it was so much effort to chew.”

Sullivan heavily relied on the help of her parents; retired bakery owners who had temporarily moved to Canberra from Perth to take care of their daughter.

“I couldn’t go anywhere without mum and dad,” Sullivan says.

“A two-minute walk would take us over half an hour with a parent on either side supporting me as I shuffled along.

“I was exhausted and emotionally drained; I didn’t even know what I wanted for my life anymore.”

At a low point, Sullivan turned to knitting and discovered its therapeutic benefits.

“It helped emotionally being able to completely give myself to something and create something beautiful because at that point I was suicidal.”

First taught to knit as a five-year-old by her mother, Sullivan didn’t get serious about knitting until she became ill.

She says the “repetitive” nature of knitting helped challenge her brain, ease her anxiety, and help her focus on the task at hand.

“I give knitting a lot of credit for the fact that I have a lot of movement back these days,” says Sullivan.

“It was something I could slowly build up over time, and it was a good brain challenge to create my own knitting patterns.”

Using bright yarns and her own patterns, Sullivan began to create one-of-a-kind knitted garments, which she now sells under the label Louise Clare Designs. 

It is obvious, looking around Sullivan’s home, that she is creative.

Boxes of yarn and knitting materials are stacked neatly in her Barton home. When we meet, Sullivan is wearing some of her creations – a multi-coloured cardigan and a pink halter neck top – both lovingly hand knitted.

Raised in Perth, Sullivan moved to Canberra when she was 16. Starting out in the public service, she then took a role working alongside the United Nations in New York, helping to launch its 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development program. 

Returning to the ACT, she helped found the Global Goals Australia Campaign, and set up her own sustainability consultancy business.

It was during this time, in 2018, that her health deteriorated.

Sullivan can still recall the circumstances of a brain bleed that led to her first stroke. 

“I was unpacking some yarn with mum and I felt a snap in my head, it was like a piece of bubble wrap popping,” says Sullivan.

“I then experienced a few seconds of euphoria where I felt as if I was floating.

“The next memory I had was being in the back of an ambulance with the sirens going, and the paramedics yelling that I needed a CT scan because I’d had a stroke.”

A four-year-long battle back to health followed, but today Sullivan lives tumour-free after undergoing brain surgery in 2020.

“We knew the surgery was risky, I could have ended up in a permanently vegetative state, I could have lost my sight or had another stroke,” Sullivan says.

“But everything was successful, and I was sitting up knitting soon after the surgery.”

You’d expect that life may have slowed down for the 26-year-old, but it hasn’t.

As well as launching her own design label, Sullivan sells recycled yarn through a second business she’s created called Fancy Yarns. 

The knitwear designer also hosts a political podcast, runs a blog and has her own YouTube channel.

“I’m now back to the person I was,” says Sullivan.

“The mood swings, headaches, and hot flushes have gone.”

Sullivan has faced multiple health challenges in recent times, but life finally had a good surprise waiting for her.

“In the middle of it all, I met my forever person – John,” says Sullivan.

“We are now planning our wedding, and expecting a baby.”