Good Friday Appeal 2023: Donations soar as Victorians dig deep for sick kids
The Good Friday Appeal has wrapped for another year, concluding with a record-breaking $23 million raised for the Royal Children’s Hospital. See the final tally here.
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The Good Friday Appeal has wrapped for another year, concluding with a record-breaking $23 million raised for the Royal Children’s Hospital.
By 11.45pm it was confirmed the donation tally had clocked $23,061,320 – making this year’s appeal the most successful since it first launched in the 1930s.
Last year resulted in more than $22 million raised while in 2021 the total reached a sizeable $17 million.
But it wasn’t the only record smashed throughout the course of the day.
A record crowd at the SuperClash between the Blues and the Kangaroos – played in support of the Appeal – attracted 49,062 to Marvel Stadium, nearing the stadium’s capacity.
The Torquay Lions, along with hundreds of local Torquay helpers, helped fund $41,500 for the Royal Children’s Hospital in 2023, shattering the $13,000 donation contributed last year.
“We not only achieved our target, which initially was $20,000, but we finished the day with
$41,500 for this year’s Appeal,” Lions regional co-ordinator Peter McMahon said.
“More than tripling last year’s figure almost leaves me speechless.”
It has been action aplenty in the Good Friday Appeal phone room, with famous faces and special performances present late into the night.
A special rendition of the Home And Away theme song sung by members of the show’s fictional band, LYRIK, performed live for the cameras.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the federal government will donate a massive $6m over three years to the Good Friday Appeal.
Speaking from Sydney’s Royal Easter Show on Friday, Mr Albanese said he was happy to help such an important appeal.
“The Australian Government I can announce will be contributing $6m over three years to the Good Friday Appeal, we know how important this work is and we want to provide support for the kids and their families out there,” he said.
“This is such an important appeal and we know that many people are doing it tough, but I know that Australians will be digging deep to help those young people and of course their families who require the support of the Royal Children’s Hospital but also for research as well.
“It’s important to recognise the role that the Children’s Hospital plays there in Melbourne.”
Mr Albanese thanked the work of the staff and volunteers running the Good Friday Appeal who are doing a mountain of work behind the scenes.
“92 years it (has) been going, and that is just sensational, thank you to Penny (Fowler) and all of the volunteers too who are giving up their time to work the phones and to work to assist the appeal,” he added.
“Also a shoutout to all those doctors, nurses, orderlies, radiographers, social workers and people who work with kids who are sick.
“I used to see first-hand kids who were doing it really tough and to all those who work with them, thank you for the work that you do.”
It comes as Victorians dig deep for the annual cause, which has raised $421m for the hospital since it began in 1931.
The air ambulance also made an appearance, in what was a much happier visit than usual to the hospital.
The crew touched down in the park outside the hospital, delighting patients including Isaac Watson.
The nine-year-old, who has had a liver transplant, was back in hospital for treatment this week.
He was so excited to see the air ambulance he said his “heart was racing”, and posed for photos with air crew officer Daniel Antwis.
State government pledges $1m
The Andrews government has pledged $1m to this year’s Good Friday Appeal.
Speaking at the Kids Day Out on Friday, Premier Daniel Andrews said he couldn’t think “of a better, more worthy cause”.
“On a very personal level, not just as the leader of this state but as a parent and partner, I know and understand just how amazing our team is at the Royal Children‘s Hospital. It’s the least we can do,” Mr Andrews said.
“I‘m very pleased to be able to announce that the government will contribute $1m on behalf of all Victorians to this year’s Good Friday Appeal.
“Victorians have got big hearts, they‘re very generous, and I have no doubt that this year we will beat the very impressive $22m from last year.”
The Premier said the Royal Children’s Hospital “will again share in record funding” in the upcoming state budget.
Health minister Mary-Anne Thomas encouraged all Victorians to make a donation if they can, whether it be “big or small”, and thanked hospital staff for their efforts over the Easter period.
“The money that is raised today will further contribute to that life saving research that is conducted at the Children‘s,” Ms Thomas said.
“Of course, our nurses, doctors, cooks, cleaners and allied health professionals are all at work today and they will be working right through Easter. On behalf of all Victorians, I send my gratitude to them.”
Victorian opposition leader John Pesutto stopped by the hospital to visit patients, and said his own children had benefited from their care.
“We’ve been here as they’ve been growing up so it means a lot to us be here and support that,” he said.
“I just love the way Victorians come together and chip in for a cause bigger than themselves.”
Finley celebrates a magical Easter at the RCH
Despite spending the holiday in hospital, 9-year-old Finley Roche says this has been his best Easter yet.
The Melbourne fan has cerebral palsy and was visited by a group of Demons players while recovering from surgery – which doctors hope will enable him to walk again – at the Royal Children’s Hospital.
He and his twin brother Mason, who also has cerebral palsy, had their jerseys signed and showed off their collection of football cards to their audience.
Finley was diplomatic and said his favourite player was “all of them” when asked, but his mum Keshia said he had been hoping all week to meet Max Gawn.
“He can’t wipe the grin of his face,” she said.
“Finley said to me this is the best Easter ever.”
Finley gave the visit a big thumbs up.
“It was pretty unreal,” he said.
Good Friday Appeal ambassador Ben Brown, who was one of Melbourne several players to visit Finley and his family, said it was a small way players could support kids and families going through tough times.
“The appeal is so important because it allows the hospital and the amazing nurses and doctors and everyone who works at the hospital to continue to do the amazing work they do with the same state of the art of facilities,” he said.
“It’s amazing really that here in Victoria we have a world-class facility.”
Ivy’s brave cancer fight inspires Good Friday Appeal
After more than 800 days, five-year-old Ivy Decker stands with her family and eyes the bell before her.
At first she is tentative – overwhelmed by the occasion – but then she breaks into a smile, curls her fingers around the rope and rings the golden bell with all her might.
Everyone who hears the sound echoing down the hall of the Royal Children’s Hospital Kookaburra ward immediately knows what it signals.
Ivy has beat her cancer.
When a three-year-old Ivy was first diagnosed, it was the thought of this moment that kept her parents Nicole and Corey Decker going.
She remembered the first time they thought “something’s not right here”.
“She woke up at about 10 o’clock at night with a really bad tummy ache,” she said.
“We had her in our bed and we’re trying to comfort her … and she was screaming so badly.”
Over the next 10 weeks they watched in despair as their daughter continued to suffer, “crawling to the toilet at night because her legs hurt so bad”, refusing to let her parents pick her up because it was too painful and, towards the end, losing weight.
Nicole said they went to emergency six times and attended countless GP appointments, only to be told their daughter was a “happy, healthy child”.
Finally a doctor at Bendigo Hospital agreed, and spent a few days running tests before advising the family to head to the Royal Children’s.
As she drove to Melbourne that night – under strict instructions not to stop anywhere – Nicole Decker had no idea it would be the last time she saw her two sons Mason, now 9, and Jaiden, now 11, for almost four weeks.
When Ivy was officially diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia on January 6, Nicole said they “felt like the rug had just been pulled out from under us”.
Their youngest child began chemotherapy the next day.
Of the 200 hundred plus children at the Royal Children’s Hospital diagnosed with the same condition every year, Nicole said one or two will respond so well to chemotherapy they are considered to be in remission by day eight.
Miraculously, the family later found out Ivy had been one of them.
But that didn’t mean her treatment was over and for more than two years little Ivy’s body was flushed with chemotherapy, to try and ensure the cancer did not return.
It was brutal, while the steroid treatments left Ivy too weak to climb the “tiny little brick step” outside their house on her first day back home.
Nicole said they were terrified of catching Covid and spent a total of 10 months in Melbourne – required to be within 50km of the hospital during the intensive treatment stages.
“Being away from the kids and even our home was really traumatic,” she said.
Nicole said Ivy had to be at the emergency department within an hour of developing a fever or other complications.
“It was absolutely terrifying for me,” she said.
“I felt like I needed a medical degree. How do I recognise the difference between her being tired from chemo versus her being tired because she needed a blood transfusion?”
But she said as hard it was to watch her daughter – who also developed extreme separation anxiety – suffer, her “extreme sensitivity” to leukaemia was a “blessing”.
“A lot of the kids don’t have those symptoms,” she said.
“Ivy was really clever in telling us that something was wrong.”
In some ways, kids on the cancer ward age far beyond their years.
When they drove past the hospital one day, Ivy said she didn’t want to talk about that place.
“She turned to me and said ‘Mum, I know I would have died if I didn’t go there,” Nicole said.
But Kookaburra children are still kids at heart.
“She felt like crap a lot of the time, but on the days when she was feeling well, you’d see her singing and dancing and smiling and drawing,” she said.
“It was just absolutely unbelievable.
“She’s just that kid who loves life. She’s always happy.”
She started prep this year, where she has so many friends Nicole jokes it takes half an hour for her to leave the schoolyard.
One time, towards the end of treatment, Nicole said she apologised to her “superhero” about the needles and told Ivy she wished she could have them for her.
“She goes ‘oh Mum it’s all right, let’s just go and get on with it’,” she said.
“I’ll go and have my medicine and it will all be okay.”
Ivy was right.
As Nicole said to her daughter, the hospital “looked after you and made you all better, and for that I’ll be forever grateful”.
“There were tough times yes, but I honestly do believe that I gave my birth to my hero,” she said.
On the Saturday that Ivy had her last chemotherapy tablet, her parents hired out the local hall, strung up a pinata and invited all their family and friends.
At her party, Ivy didn’t talk about cancer.
She talked about the tooth fairy – grinning to reveal two-missing front teeth – and the purple cake she could not wait to cut into.
She swapped her sparkly sandals for runners – so she could chase after her friends faster – and smiled as her cousin snapped a polaroid of her next to her ‘last day of chemo’ sign.
The sign – which is of course pink – declared Ivy is brave, strong and beautiful in metallic gold letters, with ‘I kicked cancer’s butt!’ scrawled underneath for good measure.
Running around in her pink, glittery dress and surrounded by all the people who hold her dear, Ivy’s story was ending how the stories of all RCH children should – at home, with family and friends, celebrating the life ahead of her.
It was this moment in time, this snapshot of a giggling child surrounded by a community that pulsed with love and laughter, that touched on the importance of the Royal Children’s Hospital more than any words could ever do justice.
And as Victorians continue to throw their support behind the Good Friday Appeal, the more kids like Ivy will get to throw parties like this.
Inside story of a miracle
A “miracle” toddler plays in the sand on the banks of the Murray River, a red line on his stomach the only sign of his fight to be there.
To the passer-by who paused to let the laughing boy pet his dog, Hunter Allcroft could have been any ordinary child enjoying the fresh air with his family.
But the truth is, without his parents Lisa and Marty Allcroft and the Royal Children’s Hospital, this bubbly, energetic toddler may have never taken his first breath.
This is the story of two determined parents, a dedicated team and a brave baby boy, born with his organs outside of his body.
The happy pregnancy that all families crave was abruptly shattered at Lisa’s 12 week scan, when the sonographer discovered what they later learnt was Hunter’s exomphalos.
The rare condition occurs when there is a defect in a foetus’ abdominal wall and some of their organs develop outside of their body in the umbilical cord.
Lisa said the future was so uncertain, they kept the pregnancy a secret from most people – unable to answer their well-intentioned questions.
“It was just too hard,” she said.
“Everyone was just telling us to abort.”
The Cobram couple was sent to Melbourne for specialised care, where they begged doctors to let them speak directly to a paediatrician who had treated exomphalos.
That call – with a Royal Children’s Hospital specialist – was their first moment of hope in a long time.
They could not promise that Hunter did not have other conditions – which can be a common complication – but said an exomphalos could be treated and children “live a happy, healthy life afterwards”.
Hunter came into this world via caesarean at the Royal Women’s Hospital on February 7, 2021.
The sac outside his body held his bowel, liver, gallbladder and some of his stomach.
Hunter and his ‘bump’ of organs carefully wrapped in cling film was transferred to the Royal Children’s Hospital and the care of paediatric surgery department director Dr Michael Nightingale.
Dr Nightingale said while Hunter thankfully did not have any other conditions, his exomphalos was so big that it was too dangerous to operate.
“If we had pushed all (those organs) back in, then he wouldn’t have been able to breathe afterwards,” he said.
They embarked on a months long-journey of carefully wrapping his exomphalos so the organs stayed above the opening, allowing gravity to slowly pull them into their rightful place.
But with the sac made of a thin, clear membrane, they had to spend weeks in hospital amid strict Covid restrictions.
Lisa said some days, it felt like they would never get to leave.
“When you’re waiting for skin to grow, it takes a long time,” she said.
“It really seemed like it was never going to end.”
But after seven weeks, home was in sight.
Hunter, fed via a feeding tube but otherwise doing well by this stage, only remained in hospital for his weekly dressing change.
Goulburn Valley Health’s Shepparton hospital had never treated a child with exomphalos, so Dr Nightingale said the RCH spoke to a “fantastic” nurse Paula Holland who responded “show us what to do and we’ll take it on”.
Soon Hunter was safe in the hands of his regional hospital, who managed the weekly changes for several months.
Lisa said it allowed him to meet his grandparents, go outside to “feel the breeze on his face” for the first time and – a week after arriving at Shepparton – finally go home.
After 14 months of waiting, the surgery that changed Hunter’s life took just a few hours.
Hunter – dressed in a blue hospital gown that at one point he had tried to nibble – was determined to fight off the sedative, squealing every few seconds to wake himself up.
He had been blissfully unaware of what was to come – playing peek-a-boo with a friendly anaesthetist, and only cried when an apologetic nurse checked his vitals, his small fingers grasping onto mum for comfort.
At age 1, it was his parents who had to carry the burden of knowing what lay ahead as Hunter drifted off to sleep.
A nurse walked the team through a careful checklist as surgeons Dr Nightingale and Benjamin O’Sullivan examined the exomphalos, circled with a purple marker.
Dr Nightingale said they usually wait until the child is older, but Hunter’s “bump” has already shrunk so much, only a portion of his liver remains inside.
Nurses carefully counted the strips of gauze laid out before them, the first notes from a playlist called “chilled afternoon” filled the air and the surgery began.
Dr Nightingale said the operation itself would be “relatively straightforward” but the main challenge was navigating an important vein that runs from the liver to the heart.
The team carefully separated Hunter’s liver from his sac and put it back where it belonged, pulling the abdominal wall together to keep it that way.
After a few hours, they made their final stitches on Hunter’s now flat stomach, using part of the exomphalos to form a belly button at the end of his scar.
He was wheeled into post-operative care where a nurse taped a certificate for “bravery and courage” to his cot and called his parents once the toddler started to stir.
Marty said he had never realised just how slow a clock goes, until he found himself watching one that day, waiting for the call.
Back home in Cobram less than two weeks later, he looks down at his son with pride.
“He’s always been happy, even when he had the worst against him,” he says.
“He’s definitely a miracle.”
Lisa says they were lucky to have such a resilient kid and the hospital was a lifeline for rural towns.
“It doesn’t matter what gets thrown at him, he seems to knock it out of the way,” she says.
“Without the Royal Children’s Hospital, I don’t really know where we’d be.”
After so much uncertainty, the family have their eyes on the future, on days filled with laughter and loved ones.
The kind of days – so ordinary that it would never make the pages of a newspaper – that families living out of suitcases in hospital, dream about.
A step, then a hop, skip and truck
On an overcast day in the Royal Children’s Hospital’s playground, a bubbly toddler lights up at the sight of several yellow trucks just waiting to be raced.
He could be a happy kid at any Melbourne park, were it not for the sight of his smiling father right behind him, pushing an IV pole connected to his excited son.
Ibrahim Kabbout has been undergoing chemotherapy at the Royal Children’s Hospital and this trip to the park was the first time he had been able to leave his ward in five days.
Mum Elham Alashrafy said Ibrahim, now two years and nine months old, was diagnosed with cancer aged one after he lost the ability to walk.
“We were in shock,” she said.
He had Ewing sarcoma of the spine, which was unusual for his age.
Dad Nazir Halu said Ibrahim had been unable to walk because the tumour had been wrapped around his nerves, and he began six weeks of radiation, followed by 17 cycles of chemotherapy every fortnight.
Mr Halu said Ibrahim still had multiple months of chemotherapy to go, but he’s doing well and is still an energetic boy who loves playing with trucks and his older brothers.
“The second round of chemotherapy he started walking,” he said.
“We were all happy and the doctors too because they knew it was shrinking then.”
He said they would be donating to the Good Friday Appeal after witnessing the hospital’s “great” work, and encouraged others to do so.
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