Telethon 2026: Perth cancer patient Chase Hunter finds strength in high-vis Supertee to look just like his dad

In the corridors of Perth Children’s Hospital, you won’t hear five-year-old Chase Hunter talking about Spider-Man, Batman, or AFL players.

Ask him who he wants to be when he grows up, and his answer could melt even the toughest heart.

“When I grow up, I want to be just like Dad, he is my hero,” Chase told The West Australian.

For the past year, Chase’s world has been stripped of the wide-open spaces he grew up with on a cattle station in Pannawonica.

Instead, his days have become a brave and relentless fight against neuroblastoma — a rare and aggressive childhood cancer.

But when wearing his high vis, he looks less like a hospital patient and more like a pint-sized site supervisor ready for a day’s work.

And to Chase, that changes everything. Because when he looks down at his bright shirt, he doesn’t see a medical gown. He sees his dad — who is an electrical coordinator in the mines.

During a routine checkup at PCH a doctor felt a strange hardness near Chase’s kidney. What followed was every parent’s worst nightmare.

“Turns out he had neuroblastoma, so he’s been getting treatment for the last year,” his father, Matt Flaherty, said.

“The last two rounds were six weeks each in the hospital. The rounds before that were two to three weeks each... we’ve done about nine or ten rounds now, so it’s been a good majority of the year spent sitting in the hospital.”

For a boy used to running wild across red dirt and dusty paddocks, being confined to a tiny hospital room was a crushing transition.

“He’s always been a fun, outgoing kid,” Mr Flaherty said.

“It was tough at first, being obviously confined to a tiny room from growing up on the station, but he’s adjusted well.

“He loves all the nurses and they all love him ... at first it was a real test for him, but he’s gotten used to it now.”

Amid the harsh reality of chemotherapy, hope arrived in the smallest package.

Disguised as vibrant costumes, Supertees — a Telethon funded organisation — are specialised medical garments engineered specifically for children facing severe illness.

Research has shown that Supertees help kids mentally deal with the trauma they are facing.

Thanks to WA’s generosity, Telethon have made these clever garments available to young patients in every hospital across the State.

They feature clever side openings that allow nurses and doctors easy access to lines, monitors and ports.

The latest design — the “Tradie Edition” — pays homage to WA’s everyday heroes, the sparkies, brickies, plumbers and other blue-collar heroes who build the State.

An army of volunteers at miner Mineral Resources packed the first delivery of more than 3000 Tradie Supertees, which are now being delivered to hospitals across the State.

MinRes Partnerships Manager Kasey Sandstrom said: “As an employer of thousands of skilled workers, MinRes is proud to help Supertee and Telethon recognise WA’s tradies as real-life heroes.”

For Chase, it’s a direct link to the man he admires above all others.

“I like looking like a tradie, just like Dad,” Chase said.

In a journey where parents often feel powerless, Mr Flaherty said seeing his little boy choose to draw courage from him is the ultimate honour.

“He’s always mimicking me, much to my annoyance sometimes, but no, he loves it,” he said.

“He just wants to be like me and wear the high vis like me and do what I do.

“It brightens my day for sure, when he wakes up and sees me wearing what I’m wearing, and then wants to mimic it and wear it all day ... yeah, it’s great.

“Little things like these tradie tees are huge, they make an amazing difference to his day.”