Losing a child is my biggest fear in this life. It is something I cannot even bear to fathom and my heart literally breaks into a million pieces whenever I hear of another family suffering.
Certainly NO mother should ever have to say goodbye to their child in the way that Lucy did when her precious daughter Sienna passed away at just two and a half years of age.
Certainly NO mother should ever have to say goodbye to their child in the way that Lucy did when her precious daughter Sienna passed away at just two and a half years of age.
"Sienna was a perfectly normal child
in every way" Lucy tells us. "If anything she was super energetic"
Sadly though Sienna was one of the 1 in 10 000 child that has neuroblastoma - the number
1 cause of Kid's cancer deaths.
Cancer spreads very
quickly in children as their cell renewal process is the fastest. However, due to
a numbers issue, our children do not currently represent a
"priority" for drug companies, so research has been far slower
than it should have been.
A fact that Lucy refuses to accept. "I know in my
heart of hearts that if more money had gone into neuroblastoma 30 years ago
Sienna would be with me today - and that is just so hard to know - but knowing
it means that if I raise money now that hopefully children diagnosed tomorrow
will be saved."
Tragically we
cannot save Sienna, but we can help Lucy in her fight to save other children, and it is within everyone's power to help...
Lucy is the event
director for The Neuroblastoma Run 2 Cure which will be held in The Domain
and the Botanical Gardens on 22 June, with all proceeds going to Children's
Cancer Institute and Cancer Council
NSW for research into neuroblastoma.
Neuroblastoma
almost exclusively strikes infants and children and is the third most common
type of childhood cancer, after leukaemia and brain tumours. The average age of
diagnosis is just 2 years and aggressive neuroblastoma carries a survival rate
of only 50%. Neuroblastoma is the leading cause of death from cancer in
children under 5 years.
Events include a
challenging 10km run and 5km run for keen joggers, followed by the Little
Heroes 1km – which is a fun, easy walk around The Domain for children
aged five and under with their families.
“We’re
encouraging Little Heroes participants to dress up as superheroes - in honour
of those we have lost, who are battling the disease, or who will be
diagnosed,” Lucy told me.
The Little Heroes
1km focuses on little children helping little children, as neuroblastoma
is tragically the number one cause of cancer deaths in children under five.
Families will be
able to make a day of Neuroblastoma Run 2 Cure, with children’s activities
including face painting, a kindy farm, pony rides, a jumping castle, soccer and
rugby from 10am – 2:30pm in The Domain.
“It’s up to us to
give children with neuroblastoma the chance to live,” continues Lucy. “We don’t
need a miracle for this to happen – just more research.”
Please
consider taking part in this special day or even making a small
gesture of a donation.
The event details
are as follows:
Date: 22
June, 2014
Location: The Domain & the Botanical Gardens
Events/distances: ·
7:30am:
10km run ·
9:00am:
5km run ·
10:30am:
Little Heroes 1km
