By Michael Doran
Ryan Fowler only took up running in April, but he’s now running from Melbourne to Sydney to raise money for children’s palliative care.
He is passing through the Yarra Valley on the way and is asking for the district’s help.
In November last year, Ryan and his wife Karen took their 17-month-old son Rio to hospital to get a bad dose of gastro checked out.
Within a few hours their world was turned upside down and changed forever.
“We went from thinking it was gastro to be told that he may not make it through the night,” Ryan said.
“The doctors told us their focus was getting through the next six hours.
“We thought it was just gastro but we found ourselves saying goodbye.”
Rio’s condition rapidly deteriorated and in little more than a month he had survived five major operations, including two amputations and heart and kidney failure, only for the family to learn his illness was terminal.
“Close to Christmas they told us they didn’t think there was anything else they could do for Rio,” Ryan said.
“We were told it was a condition so rare that doctors believe he was potentially the first child in the world to contract it.
“Rio would look into my eyes and all I could think was ‘are you sure he is dying?’”
The family learned of Bear Cottage, a children’s hospice in Manly, New South Wales, and were lucky enough to find a space.
“Rio spent his last days in the garden playing with his sister Remi, in a caring place with his family by his side,” Ryan said.
“I just want other families to have that, too.”
There are only three children’s hospices in Australia, with just 24 beds available nationally.
Ryan and Karen want to change that and have set up a registered charity, Rio’s Legacy, with the aim of raising money for children’s palliative care and building more children’s hospices.
“Each year we will do a Rio’s Challenge on 1 October as a way of raising awareness of what we are trying to achieve,” Ryan said.
“We will change it every year to get people involved and talking about a subject that they normally don’t want to talk about.”
The inaugural charity challenge, Rio’s Run, will see Ryan running from Melbourne to Sydney, beginning on 1 October and finishing on 26 October.
The second day will end at Tarrawarra, with an overnight stop in Healesville on 2 October.
“Rio’s Legacy is a fully-fledged charity and we are really proud of what we have achieved already, but there is so much more to do,” Ryan said.
Visit www.rioslegacy.org.au for more information.
