Will you help save lives and protect families like Alma’s?

Your kindness today can bring an advanced new gene-screening machine to the Mater – one that can test THREE times as many families for hidden heart conditions as our current technology can…

I want you to know my dear Ben…

…and to understand just what family heart screening and the new gene-screening technology your generosity can help bring to the Mater means to my family… and to Ben’s memory.

Please, will you give a gift today to help save lives and protect families like ours?

Your gift can help save lives…

Ben was your usual cheeky 13 year old. He loved to read, he loved his friends, he loved school. He was loving life…

…That was our Ben.

Ben and Alma at the Zoo

If you’ve ever lost someone you love, you know that even saying the word ‘was’ when you talk about them feels like a dagger in your heart.

Ben died on New Year’s Eve. We were after stuffing our faces with a Chinese takeaway. Ben had gone off to play his football game on the X-box. About an hour later, I found him unresponsive in the playroom.

Ben was rushed to hospital. But they couldn’t save him. We found out then he’d had a cardiac arrest. It just took him.

You’re in a state of absolute shock. You can’t believe it… How could our young, healthy, sporty Ben be gone? Just like that.

There were no answers. Not until we were referred to the Mater… Through gene screening, the Mater found out that Ben had “CPVT” — it’s a long complicated abbreviation for a serious heart condition.

It’s such a sneaky condition, most people have no symptoms at all.

Please, will you give a gift today and help bring new life-saving, gene-screening technology to the Mater?

One single gene — the RYR2 gene — That’s what took our Ben.

And without the Mater, we might never have known that myself and Alfie carry the gene too.

Alfie and Alma.

You can imagine how painful that felt… Not for the fact that I had the condition too, but for the fact that I’d passed it down to my boys without even knowing.

You’ve lost your first born, then you find out your other child has the same condition. The fear of losing Alfie was overwhelming. But now we know we have this gene, we can protect ourselves from it. Alfie’s been fitted with a heart monitor. The Mater keeps us safe.

I dearly hope you can help us bring this amazing new gene-screening machine to the Mater with a gift today.

I know what it’s done for my family, and with your help, so many more families like ours CAN be saved.

Your kindness today can bring an advanced new gene-screening machine to the Mater – one that can test THREE times as many families for hidden heart conditions as our current technology can.

Honestly, if I could cover the cost of this incredible machine myself, I would. It’s technology that saved me and Alfie. I’m certain of it!

If Ben’s story inspires even one caring person to donate, I’ll be so happy.

He was such a caring, positive person, and I want his memory to carry on doing good in this world. Thank you for taking the time to know my Ben, even just a little.

And thank you for giving whatever you can. If you can.

Yours, with all my love and hope,

Thank you for being the heart of our hospital and for giving what you can.