Gifting Jasmine and Jacinta a fighting chance

When images appear of sick kids battling cruel and painful diseases like childhood cancer, it’s natural to feel a sense of helplessness. The guilt and heartache of watching a small kid suffer leaves many of us searching for a way to help.

Although there isn’t always a cure, a little bit of love and compassion from supporters like you, can help make a big difference.

Last year, thanks to our donors incredible generosity, over $1 million was raised for the incredible Kids Cancer Centre. This very special department at Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick grants sick kids access to world-class medical care and breakthrough clinical trials.

For Mum Patricia, the Kids Cancer Centre was her pillar of support during her family’s unimaginable battle.

In March 2019, Patricia’s world came crumbling down not once, but twice, when her two-year-old twin girls Jasmine and Jacinta were both diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia – just three days apart.

The chance that a set of identical twins could be diagnosed with the same type of cancer was so extremely rare, the probability was a mere two to three percent.

Patricia shares, “When you receive the diagnosis of cancer, your whole heart just falls out. It’s so completely devastating, life just becomes a blur.”

That’s when the wonderful staff at the Kids Cancer Centre stepped in. Over the course of 9 months, support workers helped streamline appointments as doctors decided on the most effective treatment plan.

But, for Patricia it was the small random acts of kindness that meant the most, “The staff are incredible. Jasmine & Jacinta were always keeping an eye out for ‘Music Matt’ and ‘Nurse Kate’ on the wards.”

On the girls third birthday, one of their beautiful nurses even made a delicious rainbow cake to help celebrate.

Now, twelve months on, Jasmine & Jacinta are back home on their farm splashing in puddles.

Thanks to the amazing staff and donors like you, the girls’ special memories of their time in Hospital will help overshadow their pain.

Patricia hopes by sharing their story, other donors like you will be inspired to help more families like hers.