EFL: Ringwood and The Basin set to raise funds for spinal muscular atrophy in return game at Jubilee Park

RINGWOOD is set to return to Jubilee Park against The Basin but the game will also double as a fundraiser for little-known disease spinal muscular atrophy.

Kirsty McConnell with her daughter Lily. Picture: Supplied

KIRSTY McConnell is doing it for Lily.

Ringwood’s clash against The Basin this weekend will mark the Redbacks’ return to Jubilee Park for the first time in nearly 12 months after recent upgrades to the ground.

But the game will also serve a wider purpose beyond the Eastern Football League Division 3 fixture.

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The day will aim to raise funds for and awareness of the deadly muscle-wasting condition spinal muscular atrophy, which claimed the life of Kirsty’s 16-month old daughter Lily in March last year.

Ringwood will wear orange socks and The Basin will wear purple socks, while players from both sides will wear purple and orange armbands, representing the colours of SMA.

McConnell likened SMA to the “childhood version of motor neurone disease”.

“It is very similar, it has levels of severity so Lily was classed as a Type 1 SMA child, which is the most severe,” McConnell said.

“About five, six months of age she started to go backwards so with her having the most severe type, she deteriorated pretty quickly after that.

“She was never able to roll, never able to sit up, never able to do any of those.”

Lily McConnell. Picture: Supplied

McConnell has taken the coaching reigns of The Basin’s under-10 girls’ side this year, which includes her nine-year-old old daughter Eliza.

Eliza and the daughter of Ringwood president Steve Bricknell have become good friends at St Bernadette’s Primary School, with the Bricknell family helping Kirsty and husband Aaron through Lily’s illness and passing.

“They were there from start to finish with Lily, which was wonderful, and Steve has been wanting to do something with the club for a while,” she said.

“Through my ties with The Basin, we were able to put it all together and try make something of it.”

Kirsty and Aaron were unaware they were carriers of the SMA gene when they married and had children.

About one in 40 people unknowingly carry the SMA gene, with the rare disease affecting a child’s ability to walk, stand, eat, speak breathe and swallow.

A child with SMA type 1 rarely lives beyond three years of age.

Kirsty said she wanted to make purpose of Lily’s life.

“I think we were shocked when we found out because we had never heard of it before so I think the more you talk about it, the more awareness you raise, the more you can make change,” she said.

Kirsty spoke to players from The Basin last Thursday night and will speak to Ringwood’s players this week about the importance of pre-pregnancy genetic screening, which tests healthy adults for the presence of gene mutations that cause diseases such as SMA.

“We’d really like this to be a bit more of a conversation had not only by GPs but by people going to their GPs saying, ‘I want to have this test done’,” Kirsty said.

“I think moving forward it is really important to talk, just raise the conversation and give yourself a choice and try to avoid what we went through.”

A sold-out luncheon will be held pre-game and there will be a raffle and donations to raise money for Gild for Lily.

To donate visit: au.gofundme.com/GildTheLilySMA