Emily’s sign of love
Emily’s sign was much more than a sheet of cardboard with big letters proclaiming: “Stuff for Sale”.
It was a sign of love for her grandfather and a little girl’s longing to help find a cure for cancer.
Her heart-warming story has been told by her mother Dana and we are proud to tell it here with permission with much thanks to Emily.
“On the 2nd of January 2018, our wonderful Dad and Pa was diagnosed with Stage 4 Oesophageal Cancer, with secondary cancers in his liver and lungs. As you can imagine, our world was crushed. We are a very close family, and in particular, Dad has a very close bond with his much-adored grandchildren.
It was a few weeks after the diagnosis when our 9-year-old daughter Emily (who had been busy outside painting) came to me and asked me to ‘check her sign’. I followed her out to discover that she had created a sign advertising “Stuff For Sale”.
Emily had received some plaster figures and trinkets as a Christmas present; and she had hand painted each one, wanting to sell them for $1 each to raise money to help cure her Pa’s cancer. And sell them she did – cornering every person who happened to visit our home to make a purchase for a good cause.
“I recall that when we got to the first $10 raised, Emily asked me, “Do you think $10 is enough to cure Pa’s cancer?”.
I told her that the doctors and scientists could very well be only $10 away from finding a cure, and that every little bit helped. At that point – we never could have imagined we would reach over $200! People were wonderfully generous with their donations – and in the end, the plaster figures ran out, but the money kept coming!
After a few months Emily’s tally had reached $263. Knowing that we were going to be travelling to Adelaide for a PET scan for Dad, we started researching where we would like the money to go. After much deliberation, we decided that the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) Research Fund was the perfect place. We were truly blown away with how many people wanted to help a little girl achieve her goal for something that is very close to her heart.”
Knowing that the RAH Research Fund supports vital research for many devastating illnesses, we hope that Emily’s donation will go some way in helping all of your wonderful researchers work towards finding a cure, and maybe one day, spare other families from the heartbreaking journey of loving someone, or living with cancer.”
If you are inspired to raise funds for medical research and the RAH Research Fund, please contact Ketrah Parsonage, Community Engagement & Events Officer on (08) 7074 1444 or via email Ketrah.parsonage@sa.gov.au
