When Terry’s son, Archie, was first diagnosed with cancer, he was overcome with fear and anxiety. However, it wasn’t long until he decided to channel these emotions into action by fundraising for The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) Foundation.
“I’m not someone who has been passionate about raising money for charity. I’ve donated to charities in the past, but that never involved a longer-term commitment,” Terry said.
“One day, however, I went for a run, and I decided that I was going to run a marathon and raise money for charity,” he continued.
Terry and his wife, Monica, later chose to fundraise for the RCH Foundation. After spending some time at the hospital themselves due to Archie’s cancer diagnosis, the family experienced first-hand the hospital’s world-class care and wanted to give back.
“No matter the experience, I always rate it out of 10 – and it’s very rare that I give anything a 10. However, this experience, and the support we’ve received so far, has been an 11. The support of the staff has just made everything easier,” Terry shared.
“So obviously I wanted to do it for the RCH Foundation,” he continued.
With this being his first fundraiser, Terry was not quite sure what to expect. He was hoping to raise at least $2,000 to help support the hospital and to find himself a healthy outlet during a very challenging time for Archie and the whole family. The last thing he expected was to quadruple his goal, raising an incredible $8,070.
“I thought if I could raise $2,000, I’d be happy, but I think we got that in an hour. And when I saw the flood of donations come through, I sat at my laptop and cried,” Terry shared.
“As I said, I’m not really somebody that’s been big into raising money, but when it hits you personally, it matters even more and it makes me emotional to think about how kind people were,” he further emphasised.
On the day of the marathon, Terry took inspiration from his son’s resilience and his supporters’ kindness to get him to the finishing line.
“I had moments towards the end where I had to tell myself all you’re doing is a run and look what Archie’s going through. I kept him in my head and thought that we’re very lucky,” Terry said.
“I just kept thinking that people have it worse than you. You’ve taken people’s money, and you have to keep going,” he added.
Archie is now halfway through treatment and is doing well. His hair has just started to grow back, and he has even returned to day care. Best of all, the two-year-old is also preparing for a brand-new journey – becoming a big brother.
The family look forward to this new chapter and are incredibly excited to have been able to support the RCH.
“I’ve been in a lot of hospitals, and I’ve never seen a hospital as good as the RCH, and the amount of money I raised will probably help the hospital in some way,” Terry concluded.