A Good Friday Appeal for kids like McKenzie

For McKenzie Stanforth and so many other children, the Good Friday Appeal is the most important day of the year.

For McKenzie Stanforth and so many other children, the Good Friday Appeal is the most important day of the year.

It’s when Victorians show just how generous they are, digging deep to raise funds for The Royal Children’s Hospital to help ­patients like little McKenzie with world-class care.

While she was just 20 weeks pregnant, Cassie Stanforth found out she would soon have to make a difficult decision for her son: have his leg amputated below the knee or put him through a painful leg-lengthening procedure.

Afflicted with fibula hemimelia, a congenital limb deficiency, McKenzie was missing his fibula and a toe in one leg while his shin bone was half the size in the other.

Following deliberations together, Cassie and husband Luke decided to have part of their son’s leg removed, an act they were aware could make him “come home feeling different” when he was older.

“The lengthening is a painful process for the entirety of his childhood until he’s 16 and he stops growing, which could have ended up in an amputation anyway,” Ms Stanforth said.

“We thought what’s the point in putting him through all that pain for it to end the same way when he’s a teenager.”

Ms Stanforth said she initially doubted her decision when she saw her then one-year-old son emerge from surgery but in the end she knew it “was how it was meant to be”. “I just sat there … seeing him in pain, screaming; it was just ‘Did I do the right thing?’ ” she said. “I’ve never wanted to say no to him; if he wants to try to do something, go for your life.”

McKenzie is just one of the children touched by the support of the Royal Children’s Hospital, where much of the upgrades, equipment and research is made possible by money raised in the Good Friday Appeal.

The annual event has raised $421m over the past 92 years, with the fundraiser in 1931 raising £427 for the Alfred Hospital Appeal.

Last year, the appeal smashed records, collecting $22,328,154 in donations.

Chair of The Good Friday Appeal and of The Herald & Weekly Times Penny Fowler said the appeal’s success was owed to the community’s great generosity. “The Good Friday Appeal is all about people giving what they can because every dollar makes a real difference to our sickest children and their families,” she said.

“Having a heart is what the Good Friday Appeal is all about. Through the appeal, people show what big, generous hearts they have year in, year out.”

Friday’s fundraiser includes a Kids Day Out at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre with carnival rides and live performances. And $5 from every adult ticket for the AFL clash between North Melbourne and Carlton will go towards the appeal.

Donate to the appeal at: www.goodfridayappeal.com.au/donate/