They are turning terminally ill children into superheroes and helping families “make memories matter” in an incredibly hard time of their lives.
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But to Edgeworth’s Monica Halliday, Fight For Connar is just trying to make life a little bit easier for others.
Fight For Connar started as a facebook page last year to help the family of Lake Macquarie’s Connar Gibson, who lost his four-battle with brain cancer in September at the age of nine.
Ms Halliday was a close family friend and wanted to continue helping families with terminally ill children to honour Connar.
She is now one of five directors of Fight For Connar, which is an incorporated association and is in the process of applying to be a registered charity.
They are working with John Hunter Hospital and are currently helping three families.
“They [John Hunter Hospital] send us through a referral form and the five directors sit down and we discuss what we can do for each family,” Ms Halliday said.
“We look at what their needs are. It’s a case-to-case situation, it’s what there needs are and what we can do to help them.”
On June 30 Fight For Connar ran a Fun Day at Kurri Kurri High School to support a student with earwig sarcoma.
They are helping another Singleton family build an accessible ensuite for their 12-year-old daughter who has juvenile Huntington’s Disease and are helping provide meals to a mother staying in hospital in Sydney with her terminally ill 11-year-old son.
“We just want to help,” Ms Halliday said. “Our plan is to allow families to have an opportunity to make memories and to have time together.
“If you were told that your child has a terminal illness … to have that said to you, it’s devastating enough without having to think, ‘Have we had photos taken recently?’.
“I think it’s having somebody take the pressure off having to think about what is going to make a memory that we’re going to have forever.”
Some of the work they are doing includes getting professional photos taken and hand molds made to be framed with those of their siblings..
The Fight For Connar race day was held for the second year at Newcastle Jockey Club on July 1 and raised $3000 towards future projects.
Their next fundraiser is Hypnotik For Hannah at Club Macquarie on July 8. Bookings can still be made for the night through 0425 240 435.
Ms Halliday said they were also in the process of assembling what they hoped would be a 200-strong team for Cancer Council’s Relay For Life at Hunter Sports Centre, Glendale on November 4.
Last year they had the biggest team of 80 people.
