By: Shannon Brien
It is every parent’s worst nightmare.
To choose whether to keep their child alive, with a quality of life that is undetermined or to let them go and be at peace.
This is the choice that Natalie and Adam Kwiez were given upon hearing that their son Archie was born prematurely at just thirty weeks old.
“Two weeks later we were told that Archie has severe brain damage, not being able to walk or talk and may become deaf and blind and have seizures,” Natalie said.
Archie’s condition is called spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy which requires him to have a lot of different therapies in order to help hold his arms out straight.
“He has many different therapies and there is work we do daily to help him, but it’s not enough.”
For Archie’s treatment to be effective it needs to be intensive and the Kwiez family have been busy raising funds in order to send him to Los Angeles to receive further treatment.
Sunshine Football Club Ladies Day event organiser, Sarah Frost, has known Natalie since kinder and wanted to help the family with fundraising.
“I was affected by Archie’s story and wanted to help out in any way I could,” Sarah said.
Despite the family not directly being involved with the Kangaroos, the Sunshine Football Club community wanted to get behind the cause, with a number of young families within the club touched by Archie’s story.
Without hesitation, the Sunshine Football Club agreed that the proceeds raised from their Ladies Day event would be donated to Archie.
With a record number of ladies attending the annual event last Saturday, Sarah and the Sunshine Football Club were able to raise in excess of $7,500 for Archie’s cause.
“It is just absolutely amazing,” Natalie said.
“Thanks again to every single person who helped organise the event, especially Sarah and the Sunshine Football Club, we just can't say thank you enough for your support.”
It is always great to see people give to a worthy cause, but even more impressive for a club to give back to the wider community, not just the people involved within the club.
Thanks to Sarah and the efforts of the football club, the Kwiez’s are surely the Kangaroos’ biggest fans.
Last Modified on 22/05/2014 15:16