Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock performing Katy Perry’s ‘Roar’
An uplifting and optimistic take on Katy Perry’s hit song, ‘Roar’, performed by patients and staff of the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, New Hampshire, USA. Get well soon, courageous kids! Read full article
Trigger – a Short Film about Food Allergy in Children
Trigger is a short film about children and allergy. Despite statistics showing increased cases of severe food allergies each year – nuts, milk, eggs, wheat, soy, fish and shellfish allergies there remains a real lack of public awareness about the potentially lethal consequences these allergies carry. ‘Trigger’ was created by Australian journalist and mother Grace Farah, whose six year old daughter suffers from severe food allergies. Read full article
Neuroblastoma in Children – One Family’s Story
Michaela Flanagan’s daughter, Ciara, was diagnosed with a childhood cancer called neuroblastoma when she was just 12 weeks old. Ciara was immediately put on an aggressive treatment regimen and underwent two strenuous operations and eight bouts of powerful chemotherapy. Throughout her first 12 months of life, Ciara spent half of it in hospital… Read full article
PKU a Metabolic Disorder – Remember the Heel Prick Test?
Have you ever noticed the labels on some artificially sweetened foods which read: ‘PHENYLKETONURICS: CONTAINS PHENYLALININE.’ You may have heard of PKU, or phenylketonuria, but what is it? I recently read an article about Queensland mum, Zoe Mitter and her son Cayden, aged two. I found Zoe and Cayden’s story fascinating so I gave Zoe a call because I really think the more all of us know, the more understanding and the more helpful we can be for children like Cayden when we have them at our homes or when they’re visiting cafes and restaurants. Read full article
Sibshops – Workshops for Siblings of Children with Special Needs
"Sibshops" is a guidebook for organising and conducting workshops for siblings of children with a broad variety of special needs. These workshops provide children and young adults with much-needed social and emotional support from their peers in a recreational and fun atmosphere. They can speak openly about how they feel (positively and negatively) about having a brother or sister with special needs in an understanding and supportive environment. Read full article
How to Support Siblings of Children with Special Needs
In spite of the challenges, many siblings say that having a brother or sister with a disability or chronic illness enriched their lives; that they have developed empathy, strength, tolerance and patience because of their sibling relationship. …However, siblings of children with special needs do need special consideration. In Siblings Australia’s 2009 report, Supporting Siblings of Children with Special Needs, the authors refer to research indicating that siblings may experience “significant long-term physical and mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, low self-esteem and relationship difficulties if their needs are left unaddressed. Read full article
Operation Smile – Creating a Smile on a Young Girl’s Face
This video was shared on Twitter by a lovely friend who, like me, was moved by the moving reaction of a young Brazilian girl after a cleft palate operation. Watch her face when she sees herself in the camera towards the end – it’s perfect slice of happiness. Operation Smile is a charity organisation that heals children’s smiles – they measure themselves by the joy they see on faces. Read full article
Sophie’s Journey
Book: Sophie’s Journey by Sally Collings tells of a child′s resilience, of the choice between life and death, and of a strength that prevails through suffering. Sophie Delezio has a message of hope for us all. This is her story. Read full article
Blessings – A Visit with Dainere Anthoney
I’ve written about the beautiful Dainere Anthoney for happychild previously. It is too easy to describe every seriously ill child as ‘exceptional’, but this young lady truly is. She captured the heart of my Twitter followers and nationwide journalist colleagues some months ago when her wish was to have her personal blog published in book form… Even though I’ve interviewed Dainere & Yvonne on my radio program, and written about her several times, we had not yet met in person. Read full article
The Girl Who Gave Me a Rainbow
I’ve done some tough interviews in my 20 year broadcasting career. Politicians, world leaders, superstars, mums, dads, kids, cops, rich, poor … people with joyous stories to celebrate, people with tragedies to share. For Starlight Day this year, I did an interview with 12 year old Dainere Anthoney. It was both a pleasure and a heartbreak, but to me this is what my job, and my privileged position is all about. Read full article
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