Donna-Leigh saw her dad chasing her mum with a knife. Then she collapsed.

This story details domestic violence.

Donna-Leigh Perfect will never forget the morning she woke to screaming and commotion in her family home.

It was the day after one of her brother's birthdays. Donna-Leigh was asleep in the bedroom she shared with her sister when she jolted upright out of bed.

"I heard yelling and noise that woke me very suddenly. I remember very quickly going to my bedroom door and opening the door and seeing my mum running past my doorway down the hall towards the spiral staircase and my father running behind with a knife," she tells Mamamia.

Still in shock and half asleep, then-seven-year-old Donna-Leigh couldn't comprehend what she was watching.

"My mum raced down the staircase and tried to reach for the handle of the sliding door."

She was so close to making it outside. So close to freedom.

"That's when he stabbed her in the back," Donna-Leigh said.

Her siblings had all gathered at the bottom of the stairs, but it was too late.

"She opened the door and stumbled along the side path and collapsed on the ground."

Her mum was dead.

The siblings' harrowing screams woke the neighbours, who called for help and her dad was arrested.

Donna-Leigh was just seven years old when her dad murdered her mum. Image: Supplied.

Donna-Leigh's life in foster care.

Donna-Leigh and her siblings were placed in foster care. Suddenly, she had lost her whole family at once.

"You're going into a strange house where you've never been and moving in with strangers who you have never met and trying to process the trauma you've been through and not really getting any support or any real compassion," she said.

"You're in survival mode."

Donna-Leigh's dad was convicted of killing her mother, and for six years, she bounced between foster homes. Each time, it would be with little to no warning.

"We were never told why we're moving, just told to put our things in a rubbish bag and get in the car," she said.

"I was constantly moving into a new house with new strangers, going to a new school, trying to find new friends."

But no matter where she went, the trauma followed.

Donna-Leigh was an easy target for school bullies and her home life provided no relief from torment.

"I'd get abused in the foster homes. I had a lot of really bad experiences," she said.

Watch: Can you spot the red flags of domestic violence? Post continues below.

A choice: foster care, or life back with her father.

Fed up with foster care, Donna-Leigh longed for her family to be reunited.

Then, at 12 years old, she was forced to make an unimaginable choice. She could stay in foster care until she was 18, or she could return to her dad and live in the home where he murdered her mum.

"As an adult, I think that was an incredibly dysfunctional environment for me to be reentering," Donna-Leigh said.

"Having the option of that or the ongoing abuse of what I'd already experienced in foster homes, I felt it was the best of two very bad choices. I think that's a disgusting abuse, to give a child that choice."

Donna-Leigh was craving some sense of stability, and so, she decided to go back to her dad. But it wasn't an easy decision.

She was haunted by the memories of her mum's death, forever etched into her brain. The nightmare seemed to play on repeat.

"Because she wasn't there anymore, none of her things were there, the memories of what had happened were all that I could remember from that experience," Donna-Leigh said.

"That caused all kinds of emotional stress and anxiety for many years to come."

Living with her dad was as if she was constantly walking on eggshells. He was an alcoholic and was abusive towards her brothers. He even slept with a knife on his bedside table.

"We never spoke about mum or what happened," Donna-Leigh said.

"He probably was burying all the pain and whatever he couldn't face."

Donna-Leigh and her siblings were separated and placed into foster care after her mum's death. Image: Supplied.

Mourning a murderer.

When Donna-Leigh's dad died when she was 17, she wasn't sure how to feel. The man wasn't always a monster.

"I remember him to be quite a generous, kind sort of person. He was quite a family-oriented man," she said.

"Occasionally, I'd see my mum and dad argue, but it never got really heated in front of me."

Everything changed after her dad's death.

"It was a mixed bag of emotions. The relief he'd finally gone and I didn't have to live this life of fear and anxiety… but also the sadness of grieving the father I wish I'd had, the loving father that I saw snippets of throughout my life. I longed for that."

At 17, Donna-Leigh realised she was on her own and had to learn to support herself.

She found herself going down a dark path: drinking too much and not taking care of herself.

"I spent so long in survival mode. I just kept going, kept pushing through," she said.

"I got to a point where I reached the bottom and I realised I needed help."

It was a defining moment for Donna-Leigh: she could continue drowning her trauma in harmful habits, or choose to accept a helping hand.

"It was the start of an amazing healing process that took quite a few years," she said.

Donna-Leigh Perfect shares her story as a motivational speaker. Image: Supplied.

Nowadays, the mum-of-two works as a motivational speaker, sharing her story about domestic violence, bullying and resilience to help be that light for others.

"Even today when I talk about my story it's an incredibly healing experience," she said.

"People resonate and sometimes are going through a similar thing, and they don't have any hope and they don't know who to reach for.

"To hear somebody that's been through something similar, it gives them hope and it inspires them to know they can overcome things."

It all comes back to honouring her mum to ensure "her death was not in vain".

"Her story can help others."

Feature image: Supplied.

Donna-Leigh Perfect, International Keynote Speaker and three times published author. 

Donna-Leigh speaks in schools, corporate events across the world, most recently sharing her inspirational story on the Inaugural HerStory Women’s Global Empowerment Conference in Las Vegas, International Ignite and TenX stages.

You can find out more about her work here and here.  

If this has raised any issues for you, or if you just feel like you need to speak to someone, please call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) – the national sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service.

Mamamia is a charity partner of RizeUp Australia, a national organisation that helps women, children and families move on after the devastation of domestic and family violence. Their mission is to deliver life-changing and practical support to these families when they need it most. If you would like to support their mission you can donate here.