EXCLUSIVE: The inspirational story of how a single mum has toured the world carrying her disabled son on her BACK – after vowing to give him a life of adventure when she gave birth at 17
- Niki and Jimmy have travelled to Hawaii, Bali and destinations around Australia
- They were planning a trip to Canada before Covid closed international borders
- Niki carries Jimmy on her back for long periods to ensure he sees the world
- The mother and son live on the Sunshine Coast and are beloved among locals
- Do you have a unique story to share? Email [email protected]
From Hawaii to Bali and the ski-slopes of Perisher, 26-year-old Jimmy Antram has seen plenty of the world.
But it has all been from the vantage point of his mother’s back.
Fulfilling a promise she made to herself as a 17-year-old first-time mum to give her disabled son the best life she possibly could, Niki Antram has spent years travelling the globe with Jimmy clinging to her shoulders.
She had already planned their next adventure – a trip to Canada – when Covid struck and international borders closed.
At 43, she’s wary that she isn’t getting any younger and it’s getting more and more exhausting to carry Jimmy on her back during their travels.
Jimmy was born with physical and mental disabilities, including blindness, and requires round the clock care from Ms Antram and his support workers.
Niki Antram carries her son, Jimmy, on her back for their adventures. Picture by Matthew Evans with Luna Productions in Coolum on the Sunshine Coast, exploring their own backyard
When Nicole Antram fell pregnant at 17, she had no illusions that her life would be easy. Pictured when Jimmy was a child
Ms Antram and Jimmy, who has mental and physical disabilities, including blindness, live on the Sunshine Coast (pictured) in their own little pocket of Queensland paradise. They’re often found at their local beach soaking up the sun
He has a wheelchair, but Ms Antram has never enjoyed using it. She’s content to carry him while she’s physically able and helps him walk short distances on his own.
Incredible photographs taken around the globe show him clinging on as they hike through mountains and rainforests.
‘Planning big holidays, I always make sure I have plenty of nappies, clothes, and even bed pads, sheets and pillowcases,’ she tells Daily Mail Australia.
Ms Antram plans a meticulous itinerary and calls ahead for every venue she wants to visit – whether it be a restaurant, hotel or daredevil adventure.
‘Even if I know we will be okay I like to inform the companies to give them a heads up about us to make sure they understand and are okay with having us there,’ she says.
‘I have worked out how to piggyback Jimmy while pulling my suitcase and carry on through an airport until they give me a wheelchair we use until we board the plane,’ Ms Antram said. Pictured: Outside the Banjo Patterson Inn in Jindabyne, near Perisher, for their snow trip
Pictured: Jimmy on a sit-ski in Perisher while Ms Antram learned to snowboard during a trip in August 2019
Pictured: Niki and Jimmy swimming with a crocodile during a trip to Darwin in September 2017. She plans a meticulous itinerary and calls ahead for every venue she wants to visit – whether it be a restaurant, hotel or daredevil adventure
Sometimes, they can’t accommodate. This is usually because of risks associated with Jimmy’s condition or logistical difficulties.
Ms Antram said the exception to this was in Hawaii, where ‘everyone wanted [Jimmy] to join’.
‘I have worked out how to piggyback Jimmy while pulling my suitcase and carry on through an airport until they give me a wheelchair we use until we board the plane.’
She counts herself lucky that Jimmy has similar interests to her. They both enjoy the outdoors, the water and adventures.
‘From Hawaii to Bali I’d be staying out all night with Jimmy because he was a party animal like me at the time,’ she says.
‘I will with Jimmy find ways to get him the best and most adventurous life, and most of the time, it’s the simplest things that he loves the most.’
She’s created a life for herself and her 26-year-old son Jimmy she could have only dreamed of as a girl from Perth in Western Australia. They spend most weekends hiking and exploring the Sunshine Coast when they’re not travelling interstate or overseas
‘Being a mum so young, I didn’t get that carefree life that most 17-year-old’s get,’ she says. ‘I had responsibility’
Jimmy and Niki visited Hawaii in 2016 (pictured overlooking the ocean from a mountain they’d climbed on the trip)
The duo are based on the Sunshine Coast in their own little pocket of Queensland paradise.
When they’re not travelling, they wake up in the morning and go for a bike ride – Jimmy in the trailer while his mother peddles for them both – as the sun rises.
The pair smile and wave as they pass their neighbours. People who were once strangers have come to know and love Jimmy, and admire Ms Antram.
Before their early outing, she’s already made breakfast, fed Jimmy, dressed him for the day and washed his sheets from the night before.
Her schedule is exhausting, but she’s determined to give Jimmy the best life she can provide.
She takes time each day to workout, with Jimmy normally tagging along and sitting while she trains.
Ms Antram is beginning to slow down on piggybacking Jimmy everywhere, both to help him walk and because she ‘isn’t getting any younger’
Ms Antram counts herself lucky that Jimmy has similar interests to her. They both enjoy the outdoors, the water and adventures
She takes time each day to workout, with Jimmy normally tagging along and sitting while she trains
He listens to the sounds around him if they’re training outdoors, playing with the sand or shells during a beach session.
Even when doing group fitness sessions at various venues throughout the Sunshine Coast, Jimmy will be in the thick of the action, listening to the workouts around him.
Ms Antram found out when Jimmy was about two months old that he was blind.
As a first time mum, she wasn’t entirely aware of the milestones he should have been hitting. Jimmy’s grandmother noticed he wasn’t reaching for or directly looking at toys as they were dangling in front of him, prompting Ms Antram to get further tests conducted.
Six months after that, she learned Jimmy also had epilepsy, but weened him off the medication to treat it after years without any seizures.
‘He’s my inspiration,’ she says. ‘I see him… He’s always happy, smiling… He doesn’t see me in a conventional way, but I’m sure he has a vision of what I look like in his mind.’
Pictured: Niki and Jimmy meeting the monkeys in Bali during a trip in March 2018. She and Jimmy say Bali feels like ‘home’ to them both
Pictured: Jimmy laughing and smiling on a helicopter ride while holidaying in Darwin in 2017
Every single day, Ms Antram still tries to teach Jimmy new words and movements. It’s a process that needs to be repeated copious times to give him a chance to learn. Pictured in Coolum on the Sunshine Coast
Every single day, Ms Antram still tries to teach Jimmy new words and movements. It’s a process that needs to be repeated copious times to give him a chance to learn.
His favourite words are ‘yay’ and ‘oww’ – which he usually saves for bedtime.
‘He knows he need to get his teeth brushed, which he hates,’ Ms Antram says. ‘He will say ”oww”, then I hold his mouth open, he complains and allows me to brush his teeth… but then he’s very happy because he finally gets to go to sleep.’
By about 4pm, Jimmy is exhausted and ready for bed. He’s often heard ‘giggling away’ in his room as he drifts off.
‘He’s very happy,’ Ms Antram says.
‘Sometimes I ask myself how can I be sad when I see Jimmy, who has never seen colours, clouds or rainbows and he is just sitting with a smile.’
The pair completed a Colour Run on the Sunshine Coast – completing 5km in 35 minutes with Jimmy on Niki’s back the entire way
Pictured: Mother and son in a book store. ‘He’s my inspiration,’ she says. ‘I see him… He’s always happy, smiling… He doesn’t see me in a conventional way, but I’m sure he has a vision of what I look like in his mind’
Her heart ‘broke’ the day she learned her son was permanently blind and it took ‘a long time to overcome those feelings of hurt’. Picture by Matthew Evans at Luna Productions
But Ms Antram admits she hasn’t always been so content. She says her heart ‘broke’ the day she learned her son was permanently blind and it took ‘a long time to overcome those feelings of hurt’.
‘Being a mum so young, I didn’t get that carefree life that most 17-year-old’s get,’ she says. ‘I had responsibility.’
The duo were planning a trip to Canada before the Covid border closures halted their plans. Now, Ms Antram has set her sights on seeing Australia.
She’s saving to buy a troop carrier which she hopes to fit out in travel gear to get around Australia, but it’s not easy on a single carer’s pension and the shifts she picks up while Jimmy is booked in with his support workers.
The duo were planning a trip to Canada before the Covid border closures halted their plans. Now, Ms Antram has set her sights on seeing more of Australia. They regularly explore their own backyards in Queensland (pictured)
The duo were planning a trip to Canada before the Covid border closures halted their plans. Now, Ms Antram has set her sights on seeing Australia
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