Fundraise for Us
Fundraising is an incredibly important part of how we keep our house running and with your support we will be able to continue to support families and their childrens for many more years to come.
Fundraising for us can be as big or a little as you like! You can host anything from a morning tea where ticket proceeds come back to the House, have a bake stall where where kids or students make delicious designs, or go all out and crowd fund in your community to make huge changes in the lifes of our families.
Anything and everything you do helps!
Sapphire's Story
As Sapphire’s 3rd birthday approached, mum Jasmine never imagined she would be thrust into a world in which the survival of her child would be front of mind, but in an instant, that’s the new reality they found themselves. Instead of celebrating Sapphire’s birthday with family and friends, they were airlifted to Randwick to immediately begin intense treatment following her recent diagnosis: Childhood Acute Lympoblastic Leukaemia. The special trip little Sapphire assumed was a part of her birthday celebration was anything but, while mum was trying to reconcile the extraordinary circumstances they now found themselves.
Their arrival in Sydney was bittersweet because mum Jasmine knew this is where they needed to be, but the uncertainty in front of them was overwhelming. Doctors relayed that it was going to be a long road with treatment to include chemotherapy, leg and lumbar injections as well as radiation. This journey was going to be filled with many ups and downs, but the one constant in their lives would be Ronald McDonald House Charities Sydney.
Providing a ‘home away from home’ to the family for 63 nights (to date) has enabled both Jasmine and grandma the opportunity to focus on Sapphire’s treatment while also establishing new routines for sister Hazel, ensuring that as much as things change, they stay the same. For Jasmine, being in the Randwick House has meant becoming part of a larger support system, a big family made up of those who are experiencing the same challenges and on the same emotional roller coaster, sometimes worse, so there is no shortage of encouragement, kind words and positivity in the face of incredible uncertainty.
Not every family gets to experience the safety and security found within Ronald McDonald House Charities Sydney, so Jasmine is all too aware of how lucky they are when they need it most. As mum remarks, “This is our home now, and indefinitely. We aren’t just surviving here, we are thriving thanks to the bonds we have formed with other families and support we receive while staying in the House, all of which make an incredibly stressful and uncertain time in our lives feel just a little bit easier. And I know our situation would be worse if we didn’t have Ronald McDonald House Charities Sydney, so in that regard, we are lucky”.
Taking it one day at time, Sapphire’s journey doesn’t end once treatment has completed. Her treatment plan includes five-years of check-ups and ongoing maintenance to ensure that each day she is one step closer to total remission.
