After a few false starts and a drawn out process of finding accommodation, mother-of-four Tracey Milsom is finally embarking on her dream career by enrolling to study Medical Imaging at CQUniversity in Mackay.

"The desire to do medical imaging actually began about 10 years ago, due to suddenly knowing what I wanted to do when I grew up - I was 36," she says.

Tracey Milsom at the new Medical Imaging laboratory in Mackay

The former New Zealander was living in Sydney's Blue Mountains when she made her initial attempt to follow her career.

"I enrolled with TAFE to do a preparatory course, paid my money and got all fired up, only to discover on the first day of classes that they had changed the timetable, so that what I had expected to be able to do during school hours was not possible.

"They were not very sympathetic to my plight, but were willing to refund my money. My children were young and I felt that they were more important at that time than what I wanted."

Tracey and her family moved from Sydney to 130 acres at Bundaberg about five years ago.

"After we moved to Bundaberg I decided to try again. By sheer fluke I came across WIST (CQUniversity's Women into Science and Technology program). The online program suited my situation perfectly. It did all the science and maths subjects I wanted, I could do it from home in my own time, and it was free. Not being overly confident in my abilities to do well, being free took a lot of personal stress off me."

Tracey Milsom at the new Medical Imaging laboratory in Mackay

Tracey says she was excited to discover the new Medical Imaging and Sonography courses were available at CQUniversity and started plans to move to Mackay.

Unfortunately, she has had many problems securing the right type of accommodation in time for the start of term.

"We are very fortunate to be actively involved in our church.

"This has provided accommodation with a family in the local congregation until our house is available mid-March."