A 10-year-old Kyneton girl who lost her mother to breast cancer a month ago is the leading fundraiser across Australia for a campaign to raise money for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
Grade four student Evelyn Strang and her older brother Henry are walking 116km to raise funds for their mother Nicole, who died on July 24 after a nine-year battle with breast cancer. Their goal was to raise $1000, but donations have far exceeded this figure, and to date, they have raised close to $22,000.
Evelyn approached her school, Our Lady of the Rosary Parish Primary, and organised a walkathon at the school last Friday. Her fellow students came dressed in pink to show their support and rally behind Evelyn. Girls had dyed pink hair and boys were wearing pink butterfly costumes as they marched and ran around the oval.
The school’s vice principal, Elisha Redpath, said the school wanted to support the family during this time, and that Nicole would have been “blown away” by the community response.
“It takes a village and we’re glad to be there to help them,” Ms Redpath said.
“Nicole had an incredible strength. She was so stoic and would never complain. She just showed us how to live and to be grateful for every day that we have with our families. She had incredible style. She was just amazing. She gave everything.
“And [her family] raised incredible amounts over the years.”
The school had calculated $2800 funds raised from gold coin donations, cupcake sales donated from the local cafe Grounded in Kyneton, and other electronic donations online.
“Everyone is just wanting to contribute and people are handing notes in instead of the gold coins,” Ms Redpath added.
Evelyn told the Express her mother was the “strongest, kindest and most loving person” she knew. She was smiling throughout the entire day as her year level marched alongside her. She closed out the the school event by performing a dance routine with her friends to Katy Perry’s Firework in front of the school.
Ms Redpath said Evelyn had “her mother’s strength”.
Each day, 58 Australians are diagnosed with breast cancer, and every year more than 3300 lives are lost. It is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australia.
Those wanting to donate can still do so online at the National Breast Cancer Foundation website. There you will find Eveyln and Henry on top of the Australia-wide leaderboard for donations.
“We want to do our part to help change these numbers. Every step and every dollar is for her,” the siblings said.
