NRLW 2023: Parramatta Eels star Kennedy Cherrington visits fellow ‘Heart Kids’ with health condition
An interaction with a young fan moved Parramatta NRLW star Kennedy Cherrington to tears last week when she found a new friend in an unlikely place.
Kennedy Cherrington had a little cry in the car home thinking about it.
How sharing her story of living through a heart condition as a kid could have an impact on the other side of the country years later.
About how the Jillaroos, NSW and Parramatta star has found a new friend in a 12-year-old girl, Ruby, going through a similar thing at Westmead’s Ronald McDonald House.
Cherrington, 24, was eight when she was diagnosed with congenital heart disease, and she spent the next two years in and out of hospital in Western Australia, enduring surgery and missing out on all the fun that healthy kids get to have.
She has shared her story before, but on a community visit to the hospital with the Eels last week, the NRLW star came face-to-face with a reason to keep speaking up.
“It was only meant to be for an hour but the majority of the girls ended up staying for three or four hours,” Cherrington says.
In that time the club’s NRLW players coloured in with the children, signed posters, and cooked them a huge feast for dinner.
After a long week, Cherrington was tired but she hung around to eat with the patients, when she spotted a young girl wearing a NSW Blues jumper.
It was Ruby, who went on to tell Cherrington that she has had to stop playing footy to have treatment for a congenital heart condition she is currently undergoing treatment for in Sydney.
“She was a hardcore supporter, and we just got into asking why she was here, she said she had a congenital heart defect like me,” Cherrington said.
“We were talking with her family for a while about how things are going, and she’s probably going through a lot tougher experience than I did … but I was just blown away.
“She was telling me that I’m her role model, that she had to stop playing footy too, and that she’s hoping her medication works so she can get back into it.
“And that’s pretty upsetting because I had to stop playing footy for a bit too to look after my health.
“I ended up give her my contact details so she could text me anytime.”
Ruby texted her the next day to say thank you for making her feel seen and brightening her day, and they’ve made plans to see each other again when Ruby is next in town for treatment.
But the interaction had a profound impact on Cherrington too.
Heart problems in children are quite common, in around one in 100 kids. Many, like Cherrington, grow up to lead normal lives.
However, she remembers feeling left out during those two years she was sick, feeling like she couldn’t do the things everyone else was doing.
But once she got the all clear she ran head first into life to experience it all, unafraid.
And that’s the message she wants to get across ahead of the NRLW season start this week.
“I’m not scared of sharing my story because there are kids who are challenged physically and going through these tough times,” she said.
“I think it’s something important to talk about.
“It’s not about her looking up to me, I get inspired by them.
“It’s those guys that keep me going through tough times, I think of the kids I’ve interacted with that have a similar childhood to mine, they’re the ones that keep me going.
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“I’m grateful enough to be at the pinnacle of my sport and I just told Ruby that if I can do it, so can you.
“It brought me to tears, the impact of the game and the realisation of what I can do is crazy.
“I’m a heart kid too. Usually after surgery they wrap you up in cotton wool, but my parents were like ’the world is your oyster, you can go out and do anything you want’ and that’s how I’ve lived.”
Originally published as NRLW 2023: Parramatta Eels star Kennedy Cherrington visits fellow ‘Heart Kids’ with health condition
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