The pair, who for 12 years have lead the Kyabram Fire Brigade’s Good Friday Appeal for the Royal Children’s Hospital, have a strong connection to the cause.
When their son Kayne was born 15 years ago, the family became regular visitors to the hospital. Diagnosed with hydrocephalus, or fluid on the brain, Kayne required multiple trips to the hospital before his first birthday.
“At three months of age, my son Kayne was diagnosed with hydrocephalus, which is fluid on the brain,” Mick said.
“He’d been down at The Royal Children’s Hospital for some regular check-ups, and they scheduled in some surgery to put a tube in his head to basically drain the fluid away.
“At six months of age he became critically ill, so ended up back at the hospital where they put a shunt tube in to continue to drain more fluid.”
Kayne, who is now thriving, has followed in his parents’ footsteps by joining the Kyabram Fire Brigade as a junior.
“He’s come in leaps and bounds,” Mick said. “Other than a few trips here and there to the hospital, occasionally by plane or helicopter, he’s doing really well.”
Mick said taking part in the Good Friday Appeal each year was an important activity for the Kyabram team.
“The Good Friday Appeal is an event that our members are passionate to support and obviously raise as much money as we can and beat the previous year’s total” he said.
“The Royal Children’s Hospital is a world-class facility with world-class equipment, which makes it vitally important that as an organisation we all band together and support the appeal in any way we can.
“We are forever grateful to the team at the Royal Children’s Hospital who performed the surgery that ultimately saved Kayne’s life, this alone is what keeps us inspired each and every year.”
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