SATURDAY morning’s barbecue fundraiser during the junior cricket at Ron Harborne Oval raised around $2000, which will be split evenly between Ronald MacDonald House and the Leukaemia Foundation, organiser Rebecca Reardon said.
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The Reardon family is very familiar with how well the funds raised will be spent, having had need to lean on both organisations when son Angus was diagnosed with aplastic anaemia four years ago as a five-year-old.
The family stayed in a Ronald MacDonald House while Angus was treated at Sydney Children’s Hospital, and they received welcome support from the Leukaemia Foundation including transportation assistance as Angus went through chemotherapy and then a bone marrow transplant.
Mrs Reardon now also gives back by participating in the Blood Buddies program, which pairs people like her who have been through the harrowing experience with newly-diagnosed patients just starting out on their treatment journey.
“It’s so helpful to be able to talk to someone who’s been through a similar situation,” Mrs Reardon said.
The foundation also has a research and development component. Mrs Reardon said that while Angus has made a full recovery and is probably healthier than most other 10-year-olds, the transplant can be rejected and he’ll be under medical scrutiny the rest of his life.
At this stage he has six-monthly check-ups, with doctors travelling to Armidale to see country patients to save the families travelling to Sydney.
Angus and young brother Hugh also share a closer bond than most siblings. Hugh donated the bone marrow, so now a DNA test from a blood sample will return identical results for both brothers.
While the Reardons have had other fundraisers over the past few years, this was the first barbecue of its kind and Mrs Reardon said it was very well supported.
“It was really successful, and we got lots of support,” she said.
