Live For Lily

When my 9 year old niece, Lily Hester died of an aggressive form of liver cancer in 2014, our family was utterly devastated. It seemed that nothing positive could ever come out of such a life changing tragedy. However, from that terrible event came the Live for Lily Foundation. A foundation established exclusively to raise funds for vital research into children’s cancer. Since Lily passed away in 2014, the Live for Lily Foundation has raised over $1.5 million for the Children’s Cancer Institute in Sydney https://www.ccia.org.au/ who continue to improve the life expectancy for children experiencing cancer through their critical research. 

Since 2015, a group of riders from all walks of life, have pushed themselves out of their comfort zones, replicating in a very small way the suffering that children and their families go through after hearing the news that all parents dread, ‘Your child has cancer’.

During the Term 1 school holidays in 2023, 22 riders including myself are taking on the challenge of riding 1032km from Christchurch to Queenstown with over 10 000m of elevation, on New Zealand’s South Island in 7 days. Every dollar raised from next year’s ride will go to the Children’s Cancer Institute, to continue their ground breaking Zero Childhood Cancer program https://www.zerochildhoodcancer.org.au/

Amazing progress continues to be made in cancer research. 60 years ago, childhood cancer was a death sentence, however now 8 out of 10 children will survive but that number is still too high. 7 out of 10 survivors will suffer long term effects from their treatment. Unfortunately, cancer still takes the lives of 3 Australian children every week, so further money for research is essential. 

I am hoping to raise $5,000 to donate to the Live for Lily Foundation before the ride commences. Throughout Term 4 the House Captains will be selling Zooper Dooper icy poles from the canteen for $1.50 on Tuesday’s, Wednesday and Friday’s. There will also be a sausage sizzle later in the term with all money raised going toward the Live for Lily Foundation. Alternatively, donations can be made through the link below.

https://live-for-lily-foundation.grassrootz.com/kiwi-classic/martin-spinks

Any help would be much appreciated.

Kind regards

Martin Spinks