Smile for Sophie Australia Day event 2024 to raise money for Children’s Hospital Foundation
This Australia Day a Toowoomba family will share a piece of their heart and soul with the community in a bid to raise vital funds for the Children’s Hospital Foundation who supported them in their darkest time.
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Two months after a Toowoomba family held their baby girl for the last time, they hosted an event to keep her memory alive and raise money for those who supported them in their darkest days.
Sophie Grace Patch was born on November 29 2021, but the much-loved little girl never made it to her first birthday, succumbing to an extremely rare type of lung disease, bronchiolitis obliterans, on November 4, 2022.
After Sophie’s funeral her father, Todd Patch, and her godfather were sitting at the Greenmount Pub when they came up with an idea to keep her memory alive and raise money for the Children’s Hospital Foundation – Sophie Grace’s goldfish racing.
The charity Smile for Sophie was born, alongside a new Australia Day tradition and event at their local watering hole.
The “one tough cookie’s” 11 month battle
Sophie’s mother Tamara Patch said they decided to name the event Smile for Sophie because, despite her illness, the bubbly 11-month-old never stopped smiling, even as she took her last laboured breath.
“She was full of character,” she said.
“She was such a happy baby, you would walk in and she would just be laughing, she had this amazing little giggle.
“Even in her hardest days she would smile and laugh.
“To the last moment she was still smiling, so that was like, if she can smile through that, we can smile through our hard times too, if she could be so strong, we can too.
“We just want to be as strong as her.”
Ms Patch said the 11 months they had with Sophie were some of their most cherished memories, despite it also being the most difficult time of their lives.
“She just couldn’t breathe, her lungs were collapsing and her airways were closing,” she said.
“It was very emotional for all of us, because some days, weeks, she would be going absolutely amazing then she would go downhill.
“The treatment would be working really well and then she would crash three times worse.”
She said they didn’t realise the severity of Sophie’s condition until the last few months of her short life.
“I got really emotional because I realised there might not be a good outcome and it was probably about two weeks before Sophie passed that Todd really took it in,” she said.
“Where as I had a lot of time to grieve... and I had a lot of conversations with doctors in regards to what treatments we could try, we were so open to anything, we tried everything.
“After the last treatment, when that didn’t work, we knew there was no coming back so that really hurt, and then about two days later is when she passed.”
She said it still felt like yesterday they said goodbye to Sophie, and some days were harder than others.
“Nothing takes the pain away, and the moments where you think about what could have been, or how it would be if she was still here are really difficult,” she said.
“However the people we have met through his hard time and chapter of our lives are incredible.
“People that you wouldn’t think would have such a soft spot in their heart, have shown such generosity and support.
“So that is helping us through every day.”
She said the now annual event at the Get Chopped Pub in Greenmount on January 26 allowed the family to remember the good times, and keep Sophie alive, rather than push their trauma under the carpet.
“We love talking about her - she will always be a part of our lives,” she said
“We don’t want to forget her or make it an awkward subject for others – it’s okay to keep moving, life still has to go on no matter what it throws at you.”
Sophie’s special star
Ms Patch said Sophie’s big sister, Madison, missed her dearly and the five-year-old was only now grasping the full gravity of the situation.
“She kept asking ‘when are we going to see Sophie?’,” Ms Patch said.
“She always tells us ‘mummy I miss Sophie’ and she is at a hard age now because she released what passing and death is.
“We have a special star that she always talks to Sophie when she misses her.
“So we make little things like that for her, which keeps Sophie alive in all our hearts.”
She said Madison was obsessed with her little sister and hardly left her side.
“We don’t want her to forget her because it’s important for her to realise that she had a little sister who she loved, who she looked after, and picked up and carried around the house, she said.
“Even when I didn’t want her to carry Sophie around, you would turn around off the toilet and here she is bringing Sophie to you and you’re like ‘oh, don’t drop her!’
“She would put her little finger in her mouth when Sophie lost her dummy.”
She said Madison was a firecracker and a spitting image of her dad, whereas Sophie was “mummy’s little princess”.
“They always say the first one is like the father – well it’s true,” she said.
“She is full of energy and keeps us on our toes.”
Cherish every moment
Ms Patch urged other parents going through a difficult time to cherish every moment with their children.
“Because sometimes that might be the last day,” she said.
“That’s the big thing because you never know, and don’t wait for tomorrow do it today.
“When we were with Sophie in Brisbane we were thinking ‘oh we might be here for a week or two no drama,’ until we realised a month in things were really bad.
“That’s when we made some big life changes, like Todd was still working flat out with his own business so it was really hard on him.
“He is such a hard worker and he is the breadwinner so his thought process was, ‘I’ll work hard now and enjoy family later,’ and I think that’s where he found it really hard because he didn’t get those little moments.
“He found it really hard to look back and go I wish I had more time with her.
“Whereas now, we know how to say no to people and put family first, so we have a different outlook in life now because of the journey we’ve been on.”
She said it was incredibly difficult for the family to navigate life with a toddler, livestock on the farm, and travel to Brisbane – with Todd travelling to and from Brisbane every day for the last few weeks of his baby girl’s life.
“I had to be living in Brisbane 24/7,” she said.
“I had to be there all the time with her, so three months at the hospital was a long time, but I cherish those moments because they were the last I had with her.”
Smile for Sophie event
Todd Patch said he was sitting at the Greenmount after Sophie’s funeral when he came up with an idea of how to keep her memory alive, and give back to those who helped during their darkest days.
He said the event had expanded for 2024 and was set to be bigger and better, as they planned to top last year’s donation total of $9765.
“I’d love for Smile for Sophie to really take off so we keep giving back to the Children’s Hospital,” he said.
“It will be a nice day to sit, enjoy loved ones, have a laugh, and share a joke a two, and create good memories.
“People should head down because everyone has seen yabby races and pig races, thong races, but I don’t believe people have seen fish races.
“Even if you can’t afford a fish at auction, still head out there because every dollar spent out there goes straight back to the charity.”
The event will be running for the second year, which is set to be bigger and better in 2024 with all money raised going to the Children’s Hospital Foundation.
Punters will have to opportunity to buy their fish during an auction before the races, however there will also be a number of family activities including a best dressed competition, live music, jumping castles, face painting, and raffle tickets.
The event will begin at 10am at the Get Chopped Pub at Greenmount, with the first fish going to auction at 11am - for more information click HERE.
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