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Family who fought a horror cancer diagnosis before almost losing everything in the black summer of bushfires are delivered a 'miracle' Christmas gift after Guy Sebastian comes to their rescue

A family hit with a horrific cancer diagnosis before fighting for their lives during the black summer of bushfires have received a $10,000 Christmas hamper, hand-delivered by Guy and Jules Sebastian.

Louise Middleton was told she had bowel cancer on August 24, 2019, when she didn't stop bleeding after falling off a horse on her farm in Cudgewa, north-east Victoria.

Just months after major surgery to remove two lymphnodes and part of her bowel, the family-of-four were hit by catastrophic bushfires that destroyed 800 hectares of farmland and more than 300 sheep and cows.

On Wednesday, the singer-songwriter and his wife knocked on the 45-year-old's door and delivered a surprise hamper from Amazon Australia with a satellite phone, a laptop, a drone for checking on stock, and fitbits for Genevieve, 15, and Grace, 17.

Pictured, left to right: Grace, Guy Sebastian, Genevieve, Jules Sebastian, and Louise Middleton

Pictured, left to right: Grace, Guy Sebastian, Genevieve, Jules Sebastian, and Louise Middleton

When Mrs Middleton opened the door to find the Australian Idol winner standing there, she told Daily Mail Australia that she thought, 'how did you get here?' 

'It's not like we're in the city or anything - we live on a rural property,' she said.

The mother her daughters were overwhelmed with gratitude.

'Guy and Jules stayed all afternoon and then came back the next day, and when they left I felt as though we'd just had a wedding - I had to sit down with a wine,' she laughed.

'It was so uplifting for our family. We have felt as though we've been trudging through and we're still on a high.' 

Pictured: Guy and Jules Sebastian delivering Amazon goods to the Middleton family on Wednesday

Pictured: Guy and Jules Sebastian delivering Amazon goods to the Middleton family on Wednesday

Pictured: Guy and Jules Sebastian surprising the Middleton family with a Christmas hamper

Pictured: Guy and Jules Sebastian surprising the Middleton family with a Christmas hamper

Guy Sebastian said it was wonderful to see smiles on the family's faces as soon as they opened the door.

'It was a little bit of "what the heck are you doing here",' he laughed.

'But as they were opening the presents, it was nice to see their faces light up.' 

The family's fire nightmare started on New Year's Eve when Mrs Middleton finished work as a midwife in Wodonga and was told there were blazes near her home. 

On the way back to the farm, she rushed to Bunnings to pick up sprinklers and fire safety equipment - anything she could find to keep their home safe.

When police came to the door and told the family to evacuate, the mother knew her daughters Grace, 17, and Genevieve, 15, couldn't stay to defend the property.

Pictured, left to right: Jules Sebastian, Louise Middleton, Genevieve and Grave opening a box

Pictured, left to right: Jules Sebastian, Louise Middleton, Genevieve and Grave opening a box

Guy and Jules were given a tour of the farm during their surprise visit on Wednesday

Guy and Jules were given a tour of the farm during their surprise visit on Wednesday

'The girls left at about 9pm on December 31 with some of our eight dogs, while my husband and I stayed behind - we have too many animals that need feeding and we built the farm from scratch and couldn't leave it behind,' she said. 

Mrs Middleton then roamed around the house for what she thought may be the last time, looking for items she knew they would need for the rest of their lives. 

Birth certificates, treasured photos, important documents all went into a plastic box for safe keeping.

'It's amazing what you can leave behind - I walked around looking at things, thinking "that can burn, that can burn, that can stay" - you can fit your life in a little box if you need to.'

She then started wetting the house down and making sure the sprinklers were all on to prepare. 

Left to right: Guy and Jules Sebastian, Louise Middleton and her daughters Genevieve and Grace

Left to right: Guy and Jules Sebastian, Louise Middleton and her daughters Genevieve and Grace

Pictured: Louise Middleton with her daughters Genevieve (right), 15, and Grace (left), 17

Pictured: Louise Middleton with her daughters Genevieve , 15, and Grace , 17

The pre-1900s farmstead has timber foundations and nestled in an isolated valley between hills and is out of range for television, internet and phone reception - all electronic devices are connected via satellite. 

'We could only tell what was happening by the way the smoke looked,' she said. 

At about 2am, it was a cool 12 degrees outside and the farmer noticed the glow of the blaze had changed and decided to jump in the car and drive to the top of the hill to see how far away it was. 

When she got there, she realised the whole valley had gone up in flames.

By the time she arrived back at home, the temperature had jumped to a stifling 43 degrees. 

'The trees were swinging around ferociously, the wind was smashing door and blowing through the house slamming them shut - we were alone and had no ability to get support, and I knew I couldn't stay,' Mrs Middleton said.

Pictured: Genevieve with her mum Louise Middleton on their property in Victoria in 2020

Pictured: Genevieve with her mum Louise Middleton on their property in Victoria in 2020

Pictured: Grace and Genevieve, Louise Middleton's daughters. The girls were evacuated before the blaze ravaged their property

Pictured: Grace and Genevieve, Louise Middleton's daughters. The girls were evacuated before the blaze ravaged their property

'I've fought grass fires in northern Queensland but I knew this was completely out of control.' 

She raced inside and told her husband, who urged her to leave without him.

'I knew it was really serious when he gave me his favourite working kelpie to take with me - the one that never leaves his side.'

Mrs Middleton got 5km down the road when she listened to all the radio reports from news stations telling residents who had not evacuated that it was too late to do so. 

Houses and sheds were exploding in flames around her. 

It was at that moment that she knew she shouldn't have left and was wracked with guilt for leaving the farm and business they worked so hard to build.

'I felt like traitor,' she said. 

'But then I got a call when I got to the top of the hill from my husband, via satellite phone, and he said "what should I do?".'

She pulled over near police blockades and waited for him to meet her there.

Pictured: A trench dug by government employees to bury the hundreds of animals who perished in the blaze

Pictured: A trench dug by government employees to bury the hundreds of animals who perished in the blaze

'He arrived in his old ute and we made it down to where the girls were. He headed up to the farm the next day to save the house.' 

The family lost about 90 per cent of their farm in the inferno, and they're still picking up the pieces. 

'We didn't just lose the animals that burned to death at the time, the costs are still mounting because so many animals now have health problems because of the fires,' she said.

'Some have bad eyes and some can't reproduce or feed their young, and then there's all the native animals we watched die - the devastation around their suffering has been awful - I would say we've lost well over $100,000.' 

Their home, which was once surrounded by singing birds 24 hours a day suddenly became deathly silent, 'as though a bomb went off,' she said. 

Farm and native animals started dying on mass, either naturally due to their injuries or because they were in so much pain they had to be put down. 

Pictured: Farm workers fixing fences on the farm months after fires ravages the property

Pictured: Farm workers fixing fences on the farm months after fires ravages the property

Pictured: The Middleton's property just after ravaged 90 per cent of their farmland, destroying a portion of their income

Pictured: The Middleton's property just after ravaged 90 per cent of their farmland, destroying a portion of their income

'Parrots came down at one stage and sat on the fence, gasping for air with all the smoke.' 

'I put the sprinkler on for them and some just dropped dead, others ate the bird seed I bought for them.' 

A week after the blaze, employees from the Department of Agriculture arrived to euthanise the fatally wounded and dug a long trench on the property - it was a grave yard for the dead. 

'That was like waiting for a funeral,' she said. 'The ongoing effects were harrowing. We love all our animals and the devastation has been awful.'

'We had to put down a deer by the creek on our property because its abdomen was all burnt out and and its legs were so damaged.'

Mrs Middleton said the costs are still mounting from the destruction. 

The loss of the sheep alone has destroyed a large part of their income, and one of their dogs died to a snake bite earlier in 2020.

'We've lost money from wool production, some animals can't reproduce or feed their babies.'  

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