On a mission to help kids

A grieving Australian family is on a mission to ensure change for children suffering from terminal illness in WA, raising money to build the State’s first children’s hospice. Ryan and Karen Fowler, founders of Rio’s Legacy, are running and riding across the State to raise more than $100,000 for a purpose-built facility. The pair started the not-for-profit after their son Rio died from an unknown condition in 2018 and have since dedicated themselves to helping families who suffered like they did by raising money for the first end-of-life care unit for children. As he runs and cycles from Geraldton to Albany through Margaret River and back to Perth, Mr Fowler is meeting members of local governments, health officials and families who have terminally ill children to gather support for the cause. Eight days into the three-week challenge, the couple, their children and helpers stopped in Manjimup, having completed two days running and riding from Mt Barker. The duo, who originally hail from NSW, said they picked the cause after they experienced the “severely neglected” children’s sector of Australia’s health system. “We went back to (Sydney Children’s Hospital) and said ‘we’ve got a bit of a cause here’ and they said no one wants to talk about how Australia’s paediatric palliative care is severely neglected,” Mrs Fowler said. Mr Fowler said although the support they had received was “tremendous” they were not looking to become more famous than the goal they set out to achieve. “I got in touch with all the shires and councils where we were coming through but it wasn’t a big ho-ha look at us, it was just a sort of ‘look we’re going to do this’ and we’re not asking anyone else to do it,” he said. “It’s just this is what we want to do and if you’re able to support us that would be great. “We want to build a WA hospice here and it’s all about whatever we raise is going to stay here to help WA families.” The three-week challenge is scheduled to end July 16 at Swanbourne Beach, the location picked for the proposed children’s hospice.