Edward Orszulak

Hi there, 

I’m Ed and I have volunteered with Camp Quality since 2012 as a companion on camps and as a fundraiser. Over the past 4 years, I have supported ‘Big Walk for Little Kids’ and ‘Trek4Kids – Kilimanjaro’, raising over $35k for this amazing organisation.  

To date, I have walked a total of 1,566km to help Camp Quality support little kids doing it really tough dealing with a cancer diagnosis. This year I plan on walking just over 2,600km from King Georges Square, Brisbane to Federation Square, Melbourne. To make every step count I’ve set myself the fundraising goal of $250,000!

Why EDS Biggest Big Walk for Little Kids? Well for a start EDS doesn’t just stand for me it stands for Ed, Dave and Seb. Seb (AKA Sebastian Boehm) and Dave (AKA Dave Finney) who were the originators of the idea. Dave and Seb were both Camp Quality volunteers or ‘vollies’ with me. We all saw firsthand how important these programs are to kids whose childhoods get consumed by cancer. Did you know that every day, two Aussie families are given the heartbreaking news that their child has cancer? It’s not only devastating for the child, but crippling for the whole family. Vollies like me, Seb and Dave go on camps and fun days and give those kids the kind of childhood experiences they’ve been missing, it makes all the difference on the long road of a cancer journey.  

As for day jobs, I’m in the Australian Army, Dave was in the Royal Australian Navy and Seb is a Firefighter with ACT Fire and Rescue. Not long after the Biggest Walk idea was hatched, Dave left the Navy after a long struggle with PTSD. If you look at pics of Dave from camp, he always had a huge smile on his face. His mates just didn’t know how hard that PTSD had hit him. Sadly, Dave lost his battle with mental health. So this walk is also in memory of a great friend and brilliant Camp Quality vollie.  

After losing Dave, Seb and I were determined to keep the walk on track. Seb has been a passionate vollie for over 25 years and was integral to the development of this walk.  Unfortunately, Seb had injuries to his shoulder and back that required surgery. Despite Seb’s best efforts, his back is still not strong enough, forcing him to make the difficult decision to not participate in the walk this time.  

So here I go, walking for all the kids and families going through the trauma of cancer, and for my fellow vollies. 

You can help too! 

It would be awesome if you could donate to help me reach my target. 

As they say at Camp Quality “laughter is the best medicine”, and I’m going to need a good sense of humour to get through this. Please give generously so I can spread those smiles far and wide. 

Thanks for your support, 

Ed