A third birthday should be celebrated at home with family and friends, not in Melbourne awaiting medical treatment for leukaemia.
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Sadly this is how Warrnambool’s Sophie Wallace spent her birthday after being diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia more than three months ago.
The family is now based in Melbourne while Sophie has months of intensive chemotherapy and other life saving treatment at the Royal Children’s Hospital.
Sophie’s uncle Jason Wallace said the sudden diagnosis had turned the family’s lives upside down.
Parents Craig and Natasha and her baby sister Kim, born in January, are living in an apartment near the hospital thanks to support from the Leukaemia Foundation.
Mr Wallace said the family hadn’t returned home but with support from their extended family and friends, they had “stoically” faced challenges as Sophie undergoes regular transfusions and other procedures.
He said the couple hoped they could soon return to Warrnambool where energetic Sophie could be in familiar surroundings.
He said to see Sophie chase balloons or “delightedly” play with her cousin it was hard to imagine that “behind the smile her body was fighting to survive”.
Mr Wallace said the family was thrilled when recent tests revealed Sophie was in remission.
“But there is a long road ahead of return trips to Melbourne for treatment,” Mr Wallace said.
Which is why Sophie’s support network has banded together to organise a family day in Nirranda, where the Wallace family is originally from, to help raise money for their ongoing medical costs.
A Family Fun Day for Sophie will be held on Sunday at the Nirranda Recreation Reserve from 11am.
It will include live music, lunch, children’s activities such as a jumping castle, face painting and messy play area and raffles.
Mr Wallace encouraged people to pre-purchase tickets from Changing Seasons Timboon, the Nullawarre General Store, Roberts Farm Supplies’ in Nullawarre and Warrnambool or Materia Brothers in Warrnambool.
Tickets are $15 each or $50 for a family.
Mr Wallace asked anyone who was unable to pre-purchase tickets to register on the A Family Fun Day For Sophie Facebook page for catering purposes.
