A marathon for Freyja
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In the week before Christmas 2016, Lizzie Young and her three daughters were preparing for the festive season.
However, one thing Lizzie wasn’t prepared for was to have a conversation with her five-year-old daughter Freyja that she had cancer. A cancer so rare it would require a team of international specialists and years of treatment to come.
Two years on, Freyja and her family venture continuously to Melbourne for aggressive treatment and therapy for Freyja’s Clear Cell Sarcoma.
Not only has cancer been a painful and heartbreaking journey for the Young family but continues to keep them separated. As Lizzie’s oldest daughter remains in Canberra to continue schooling and the rest of the family stays in Melbourne for Freyja’s treatment, they live apart for months at a time. Freyja is now seven years old and resides at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital where she spends most of her days in bed, undergoing treatment and battling painful side effects.
“We have been lucky,” says Lizzie, speaking from the hospital in Melbourne. “Melbourne Children’s Hospital has so many amazing and fun programs and activities for the girls. They have made this process a little bit easier.”
She adds that, despite her gruelling journey, Freyja has never lost her love of life.
However, when treatment is completed, the Young family ventures back to Canberra where they see a large divide in the number of resources and programs funded in the capital. Single mother Lizzie is frustrated by the lack of support her family can access for Freyja’s travel and treatment, not to mention the strain she experiences providing for her other daughters day-to-day.
“I have no money to pay for these services. I have had to sell everything – furniture and personal belongings,” Lizzie explains. “I sold my mum’s jewellery and put my house up as collateral.”
As Freyja’s sole carer, Lizzie has had to leave work to care for Freyja fulltime and in turn relies on government funding and donations to keep her family afloat. Lizzie says her weekly struggles is deciding “Do I pay the mortgage, eat or buy medicine?”
Back in Canberra, barber Casper Aniversario and his wife Camille were touched by Freyja’s strength and as parents to four girls themselves, couldn’t imagine the heartbreaking reality of seeing their children suffer. As owners of Casper’s Barbershop in Yarralumla they banded together with the community to create a 12-hour barber marathon at Yarralumla Primary School on Sunday 3 March from 8 am.
With a sausage sizzle happening throughout the day, plenty of opportunities to get a sharp new haircut and an auction, 100% of donations will be given to the Young family to provide the services and financial support they need.
Lizza is understandably blown away by the support.
“It is amazing and I am so grateful,” she says. “I can use this money to pay for everyday living costs as well as therapy for Freyja when we return home.”
the essentials
What: Casper’s Barbershop 12 hour marathon for Freyja
When: Sunday 3 March from 8 am – 8 pm
Where: Yarralumla Primary School, 24 Loftus Street
See Facebook event for more details.
Follow Freyja’s journey at the website or on Instagram and Facebook.
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