Ten highlights for ten years: Community Champions
2025-04-29
It’s an honour to be the CEO of The Kids’ Cancer Project for many reasons, but I am eternally grateful to have met the many, many people that help us via their own fundraisers.
This article gives mention to a few of our community champions. Some who have wanted to ensure no family or child goes through what they have, others who have simply wanted to do their bit in ensuring that one day we hit a 100% survival rate.
Blue Bottle – The de Kort family
The de Kort family, along with some of The Kids’ Cancer Project team and with our founder, Col Reynolds who drove a Suttons-donated bus along the Australian east coast taking on the Blue Bottle Reef 2 Water Jet Ski trek.
After breaking a Guinness World Record for creating the largest human image of a fruit, with 670 people forming the shape of a pineapple in memory of Alana de Kort the epic adventure continued from Long Reef NSW to Agnes Water in Queensland. The team endured wet weather, wind and lumpy surf conditions, covering some 1,500 kilometres over the course of a fortnight!
Of course, with luck of the Irish my one leg on the JetSki saw the sun splitting the stones and the ocean like a lake as I joined Bob Cooper, Jake and Paul deKort on their Jet ski leg from Forster to Port Macquarie.
But what an experience joining the family, dotting the coastline with multiple events and activations along the way, including fundraisers, golf days, meet-and-greets with other families affected by cancer, doctors and researchers, and lots more.
We held a fundraising lunch at the Settlers Inn and made a plasma donation at the Red Cross Lifeblood Blood at Port Macquarie which was an important part of the journey. I have continued this tradition in memory of Alana and have made 17 donations of Plama to date.
Mark Pacey- The Bloody Long Day
Since September 2019, Mark Pacey sets himself a ridiculous physical challenge. His inaugural event saw him take on a 24-hour continuous ultra-triathlon to raise money for childhood cancer research as part of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Mark swam for three hours, then alternated between cycling and running for the next 21 hours. It was an incredible display of resilience and strength, raising over $44,000 for The Kids’ Cancer Project.
The dad of two aptly dubbed his event, “The Bloody Long Day”, but the moniker has another deeper meaning that comes from personal experience – his youngest son Cooper was diagnosed with cancer at just seven years of age on 9 September 2010.
Since then, the Bloody Long Day has turned into the event of the year in the community, and now all can get involved! The campaign has raised over $420,000 in the last five years. In 2023 to celebrate 30 years of The Kids’ Cancer Project, Mark swam 30km in The Bay across the course of one day to raise funds for childhood cancer research. I’ve tried to support Mark as best as I can through attending and speaking at the Trivia Events that kick off the challenge and raise money and support, as well as taking interviews alongside Mark about his family’s experience with childhood cancer.
Superkids Superheroes
In 2017, at the age of 8, Declan (pictured top) tragically lost his battle with neuroblastoma. His memory lives on through the SuperKids SuperHeroes fundraising group, founded by his parents.
It’s this heroic fight for a cure that is the inspiration behind an annual fundraising event that Simon and his family launched in 2016, Superkids Superheroes, a 600km road trip from the Kane’s home of Bridgetown in Western Australia to the state’s capital. It is held every year in September, during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
The event is also a special way for Simon, his wife Kim, and sons Brodie and Kieren, to honour the life of Declan, who passed away on 18 May 2017.
Now in its tenth year, 'SKSH’ continues to gain popularity each year, thanks to the work of the WAFC, NAB AFL Auskick, Community Clubs and SuperKids SuperHeroes.
Over the course of the decade, the WA Aussie Rules clubs have helped raise over $445,000, which has allowed us to equip researchers with the resources they need to make a difference.
I visited Declan in hospital while he was receiving treatment, was gifted with the family's presence in my house for a BBQ and I’m lucky to call the Kane family my friends.
I'll also be in Perth for the 10-year anniversary of SKSH at the Auskick event next month on 18 May.
High Tea for a High Cause
When Sarah and Josh Weir were told in 2013 that their daughter Evie had cancer, they were overwhelmed by a sense of helplessness and despair. Evie had just turned two when she was diagnosed with neuroblastoma and she spent the next four years battling not only the cancer but also the side effects of treatment.
That sense of helplessness was mixed with hopefulness when the Weir family began High Tea for a High Cause in 2016 – an annual fundraiser for The Kids’ Cancer Project, a charity that supports childhood cancer research.
I attended Evie's funeral just before Christmas in 2017 and I have been lucky to continue to be part of the Weir families ongoing journey through their advocacy and support in raising vital funds for childhood cancer research while honouring Evie’s memory.
This is a sample of the many Community Champions and without the incredible work of all our community champions, the awareness that surrounds childhood cancer would simply not be as strong and growing like it is. To each of the families I have met along the way, thank you for your friendship, strength, selflessness and ongoing passion for The Kids’ Cancer Project as we all pursue a 100% survival rate for the three children that are diagnosed every day in Australia.
My next highlight is due out at the end of the week!
To celebrate 10 years at The Kids’ Cancer Project I am raising $10 for each one of the 10,000 kids diagnosed over the last decade. You can donate by hitting the button below.