Support my Big Walk for Little Kids
Every month, 64 Australian kids are diagnosed with cancer.
64 little people, and 64 families suddenly having to navigate something no family ever wants to face.
So this September, during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, I’m doing Camp Quality’s Big Walk for Little Kids and aiming for at least 200km across the month 🫶🏽
The challenge starts at 64km, one kilometre for every child diagnosed in an average month, and I’ve decided on 200km, which is just over 3km for each of those kids. A fair few k’s? Absolutely… will the Foot Falcon survive? We’ll find out 🫡😂 But in perspective, walking 200km over a month is a pretty small thing to do for a cause like this.
I’ve been exposed to childhood illness for as long as I can remember. My mum has spent more than 30 years nursing terminally ill children, so growing up I was probably more aware than most kids of just how quickly life can change when a child becomes seriously unwell. You see how much can be asked of such little people, and how much families have to carry around them too, often with no real moment to absorb, process, grieve, cry, hibernate, plan or even just sit there; there’s appointments, treatment, procedures, uncertainty, logistics, work, groceries, pets, school, bills, utilities, siblings, travel and everything else that doesn’t magically stop. That’s stayed with me, and once I was old enough and fortunate enough to have money to spare, supporting children’s health causes was just one small way I could contribute.
Now I’ve got my own little 6-year-old human running around, and most days are the usual chaos… lost shoes, 700 questions, random injuries, grey hairs, arguments over basic tasks and an impressive ability to create washing out of nowhere 😂 Having that ordinary kid chaos in my own life has only made me appreciate more how precious ordinary childhood actually is, and that it’s a privilege, not a given.
Around 776 Australian children aged 0 – 14 are diagnosed with cancer each year. Thankfully, treatment and survival have come an incredibly long way, but that doesn’t make the experience small. Cancer can take up a huge amount of a child’s life, and its impact reaches well beyond the child to the people who love and care for them too.
That’s what I really appreciate about Camp Quality. They can’t change the diagnosis, but they can help make sure there’s still room for the “normal” stuff too; camps, family days, friends, adventures, stupid jokes, belly laughs, new memories and time together where cancer isn’t the only thing happening… and the donations are actually really tangible:
- $50 can help a family travel to camp;
- $72 can support a child through a medical procedure with a Child Life Therapist; and
- $180 can help give two kids a Family Fun Day.
So yessssssss ma’am, 200km in September. Roughly 6.7km a day. I’ll walk, I’ll whinge about my legs, and the trusty Foot Falcon will get an absolute flogging 💯💯 But I’ll keep going.
If you can spare a few dollars, big or small, it’s a bloody great cause. I’ll be putting my own dosh behind the walk too… walk the talk, or so they say 💭
Childhood is already short, and if this can help make sure more of it still feels like childhood; fun, laughter, family and really good memories, then I reckon that’s more than worth a few hundred k’s in the Foot Falcon.
As Camp Quality says, “laughter is the best medicine”, and there are definitely worse reasons to wear out a pair of shoes ❤️
So far, I have helped provide...
