My only Christmas wish is a cure for another child like John.

1 in 3 children with rare and complex diseases will not live to see their fifth Christmas

For families like John’s, medical breakthroughs are the difference between life and death.

Research into new therapies is urgently needed for the 400,000 children in Australia who are affected by a variety of rare and complex conditions.

This research is happening right now at the Queensland Children’s Hospital.

Director of Research, Dr Andy Moore, says "Advanced therapies are truly transformative. We're no longer just treating symptoms—we’re targeting the root cause of these diseases. John is living proof of how a single, timely therapy can completely alter a child’s future."

Your support will help fast track new therapies including clinical trials that could change and save lives.

Please give today to help fund the research that could make a wish for a cure come true.

A wish granted

John’s parents lost their firstborn daughter, Hannah, when she was just eight months old. Instead of typical newborn appointments, they had to meet with palliative care teams almost immediately. They never got to spend Christmas with their little Hannah, never got to see her first birthday.

Now, a decade later, they have been able watch their son John grow, passing the milestones that Hannah was denied, all because of medical research. 

Both children were born with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), but John was able to receive a single dose of a gene therapy that has halted the progression of his disease. Now nearly two years old, John is the living proof in the power of medical research. 

John’s parents get to see him learn to walk, to go down his favourite slide, to laugh and smile. They’ll celebrate Christmas this year with the memory of Hannah and overwhelming gratitude for researchers who gave them John.

John’s mum Carolyn says, “John's doctors are very important people to him, they're his real-life superheroes and we are beyond grateful that we get to have John here with us.”

Your gift today will give more parents like John’s another Christmas with their precious little one.

“It’s almost impossible to put into words what it means because, for us, the difference has been life and death.” - Carolyn, John’s Mum

Will you give today to help find the cure that could change or save a sick child’s life?

Your gift can help deliver a wish for a cure for another child like John.

Please give generously today.