Ollie
Every day, Ollie’s parents are thankful for the cancer research that saved their son’s life, but they won’t stop campaigning for more to be done for the families who have lost their children.
“The importance of research and the importance of Jeans for Genes Day is that it benefits the families who – like mine – have a sick child and make it through their journey,’’ Nathan said.
But there are families we’ve met along the way who don’t get that outcome. They receive the information that the treatment hasn’t been effective and that they have to go home, knowing that their child will fall asleep, and pass away.’’
Ollie is one of the 2025 faces of Jeans for Genes the iconic fundraising day that supports the labs at Children’s Medical Research Institute so scientists can do work today to change lives tomorrow.
Ollie was a happy and seemingly healthy child when he complained to his mum Naomi about hearing problems, dizziness, headaches and double vision. When his right eye dramatically turned, she knew something was wrong.
His parents took him to hospital where they performed scans and found he had a tumour in his skull. Ollie was then diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma.
“They said there is tumour in your son's head,’’ Nathan said. “And half the things that he said, I didn't hear. Everything stood still. It scared the living hell out of me.’’
The family of five had to move to Sydney and live near the hospital for almost two years. Surgery was not an option due to the location of the tumour, so Ollie had 67 rounds of chemotherapy and 32 rounds of radiotherapy before he went into remission.
While Ollie used his incredible talent as an artist to get through, his parents have put their energy into advocating for better investment in medical research.
“I just started envisioning Ollie finishing high school and doing a year 12 speech about his journey and about life and about his future, and that gave me optimism that Ollie will be alive, and he will beat this.
“I know that if the research done prior to our diagnosis wasn't done -
it scares me to think that if we didn't help scientists learn more about the specific cancers, learn more about the treatment processes, he might not be here today."
Nathan said he remembers taking part in Jeans for Genes Day when he was at school and now realises that it went to help the cancer research being done at CMRI and he loves the idea that his gold coin helped Ollie.
It's interesting to feel and to think that my gold coin donation that I made years and years ago actually had an effect on the research that was done that kept my son alive."
Jeans for Genes is one of Australia’s oldest charity days and this year it will move to the first Thursday in August – after finding that many of our capital city streets and offices are quiet on a Friday.
It may be on a different day but the challenge of finding treatments and cures for 1 in 20 Aussie kids with conditions like cancer, cystic fibrosis and other devastating genetic diseases remains the same.
Jeans for Genes Day allows labs to stay open, science to continue and lives to be saved.
Sign up now to fundraise your own way. You can Bake it Blue with a cake stall, do walking, running, skipping, or any form of exercise you like – or simply wear jeans just like millions of Australians have done for more than 30 years.