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Louise O'Leary

Louise knows the importance of medical research firsthand and that’s why she has supported Children’s Medical Research Institute for over 28 years. She hopes her legacy will make a difference to not only the researchers at Children's Medical Research Institute but the 1 in 20 children who are born with a birth defect, cancer, or a genetic disease.

Louise has generously left a lasting legacy through a gift in her Will, dedicated to the memory of her beautiful baby girl who changed her family’s lives forever. She hopes that one day, research will help change the lives of future generations of children.

“In 1994, my husband and I were excitedly expecting our third baby when at a routine ultrasound it was discovered that she had a neural tube defect causing severe fluid of the brain. She was stillborn at 23 weeks and our lives were shattered. During genetic counselling sessions, grief support and research that was taking place at the time, it was identified that neural tube defects can be directly related to reduced folate in the first weeks of a young embryo’s life.

I had been donating to the Children’s Hospital as I was a patient there as a child with club feet, but then I found out about the genetics research at Children’s Medical Research Institute and decided to donate each year. Research plays such an important part in answering those challenging questions of “why did this happen” and how we can change or prevent this from happening again.”

Leaving a gift in your Will to Children’s Medical Research Institute will help change the lives of so many families, both now and in the future.