Celebrating Starlight Day 2019

We’re very excited to celebrate Starlight Day on May 4, 2019 to power the smiles of seriously-ill children at the Starlight Children’s Foundation.

Saturday May 4, 2019 is the national day of fundraising for the Starlight Foundation. You may see some volunteers lining the streets, encouraging commuters to donate spare change to the worthy cause.

Last year, our team set the very high goal of raising $25,000 to power the Starlight Children’s Foundation Express Room. The Express Room is a sanctuary for seriously-ill children undergoing treatment or extended hospital stays, to get back to the real business of being a kid, with interactive games, craft stations and outdoor activities.

Extended hospital stays can be a burden for families, really limiting the amount of interaction siblings can have with one another, causing sometimes, for some to feel disconnected from each other.

The Starlight Express Room works also as a sanctuary for families to enjoy time with each other, away from needles, sterile environments, doctors and tests.

We surpassed our enormous fundraising goal in 2018 and ended up donating $34,072.95 to the Starlight Children’s Foundation. A donation of this capacity can support up to 820 seriously-ill children access to the Express Room.

 

This year, we’re excited to again partner with Starlight Children’s Foundation, and support the wonderful work they do every day by granting two wishes.

Here’s Jasmine’s Story  

Seven-year-old Jasmine can be a little shy at first, but once she opens up she’s a lot of fun – she loves dancing, arts and crafts, and is a keen animal lover. She also loves to get outside and play sport whenever she can, and is full of energy. That’s why her mum, Vanessa, knew something wasn’t right when she had a cold that lingered much longer than normal. Jasmine was pale and lethargic, not herself at all.

Vanessa took Jasmine to the doctor, who recommended some blood tests – just in case. It’s what any parent would do, never suspecting anything would be seriously wrong. It was the day before Mother’s Day when Jasmine had the blood tests. Mother’s Day will never be the same again for this family.

The test results came back, and within hours their whole lives had been turned upside down. Jasmine had leukaemia. “At that stage I didn’t realise that there couldn’t be any treatment done in Canberra,” said Vanessa. “And so one minute they’re saying ‘I think your daughter has leukaemia’, and the next minute they’re saying ‘We’re going to get you on a helicopter straight to Sydney’.”

At the beginning, Jasmine didn’t understand what was going to happen. When they arrived at the hospital, she saw some other children who had lost their hair as a result of their chemotherapy. Vanessa remembers her saying, “Oh, Mum, they’re so much sicker than me. At least I’m not going to lose my hair or anything.” It broke Vanessa’s heart to have to explain that the treatment she would be going through would, in fact, make her lose her hair, and much more.