Spearwood resident Caitlin with her son Tate, who had congenital heart disease, and staff at Supercheap Auto O’Connor, who will dress up as superheroes to raise funds for charity HeartKids.
IF you’re buying some turtle wax for your car on Saturday, you might just see the Green Goblin and Hulk wander down the aisle.
Don’t worry, someone’s not slipped an acid into your coffee, it’s just the staff at Supercheap Auto O’Connor dressing up for HeartKids’ Be a Hero day.
Money raised for the charity will help children like Tate, a Spearwood lad who was born with the two main arteries carrying blood out of his heart switched around.
The poor wee fella had open heart surgery when just seven days old, and afterwards spent several weeks in Perth Children’s Hospital.
Mum Caitlin reached out to HeartKids during her pregnancy when she discovered Tate had the condition, as well as a ventricular septal defect.
“My partner Bailey and I felt extremely supported before Tate was even born,” Caitlin says.
“HeartKids were our shining light in our darkest days. Knowing that we weren’t alone and that many other families out there had gone through exactly what we had and made it through the other side, it helped us so much.
“They checked on us every day during our time at PCH, we leant on them so much. They are simply amazing people and we are so grateful to be a part of their family.”
Now coming up for a year old, Tate is in rude health and keeping his mum on her toes.
“Despite complications during Tate’s surgery, our little warrior has made a full recovery and has been absolutely thriving ever since. Looking at him you would never even know he was born with a heart defect. He is a ball of energy,” she says.
“I can see just how well our little Tate is doing; every day he shows us just how strong, brave and resilient he is. We are so lucky.”
Congenital heart disease is the most common congenital disorder in newborns with approximately 8-10 cases per 1000 births.
With about 300,000 registered births every year in Australia, up to 3000 babies born each year will have a form of congenital heart disease.
On Friday (June 17) HeartKids is encouraging families, schools, day-care centres and workplaces to Be a Hero and and dress up as their favourite superhero to raise money for the charity, which provides support to families of children with congenital or acquired heart disease.
Staff at the Supercheap Auto O’Connor have employees with relatives affected by the disease, and will be dressing up on Saturday June 18 to host in-store activities and help raise funds
(customers are welcome to dress up too).
To find out more and donate go to hero4heartkids.org.au