When I was in high school we had out of uniform days to raise money for a charity of one kind or another.

At the time, I’m not sure I understood the impact that something like that could have on another person

but I do now.

In its third year of running Team Ivy Day at the biggies’ high school,

I am in awe and amazed by these kids every single day.

I am thankful for them.

It’s an out of uniform day, yes

but the whole school makes it a day for Ivy (and Noah) too.

They come dressed as fairies and super heroes

and other weird and wonderful characters,

they come with cupcakes and other things to sell

they come with money that many of them have earned themselves at after-school and weekend jobs

and they put everything in for the day.

This year the kids put on a concert

and a soccer game of students versus teachers.

It was nothing short of wonderful.

To add to this seems hard

but on top of it all

groups of students and parents (and one amazing local business) had been quietly donating blood and pledging it to Ivy

starting the first Team Ivy blood drive.

I’m so grateful -

for people willing to donate blood,

for the teenagers and teachers who put themselves out there to make Ivy feel like a princess and Noah feel like a super hero,

for community.

The money raised this year is going to John Hunter Children’s Hospital

but it is going to a very specific program.

The high school will be the first sponsors to get the Bravery Beads into the hospital

for chronically ill kids -

kids just like Ivy, who have to endure so many things.

I could write so much more.

Instead, here is a slideshow of the day.

The speech I gave is underneath

and it still can’t express how thankful I am.

At the beginning of this year Ivy went through eight weeks of hospitalization – from March until May she stayed  in the ward away from her family and  her school and her friends.

She went through four operations, had at least 20 attempts to put a needle into her veins, four different antibiotics each day and still she became sicker.

She needed oxygen, heart monitoring and she had the need for intensive care  twice during that time.

Every day she had blood tests and  other invasive testing and by the end of it she was so traumatized that  by the time we were ready to be discharged the sight of a tiny subcutaneous needle  left her crying and frightened.

Unfortunately, Ivy needs to have medication through a needle every day, sometimes she has two and some days it’s three but every day was becoming a nightmare for her because of them.

A friend suggested we try a beads of bravery program to help her be able to see how courageous she actually was and to give her something tangible

so that she could literally see everything she had been through and every fear  that  she had conquered.

Each coloured bead that is added means something.

A blood test

A procedure

A needle.

but this program was not available in our hospital for kids like Ivy.

It had been in the oncology unit for several years but nothing like it was in place for chronically ill children, who go through so much each and every day of their lives

so we started our own.

It changed the way Ivy looked at the procedures she needed to have because she could look forward to choosing colourful beads at the end of each one to represent all she had been through.

Then we thought, why couldn’t we bring it to the hospital for other children

and that’s what all of you – fairies, super heroes, amazing characters and teachers out there are doing today.

Mt View High School will be the first sponsors of The Beads Of Bravery Program at John Hunter Children’s Hospital for chronically ill kids.

You are all doing something wonderful today – you are giving those kids extra strength to keep going,

you are giving them something to keep that says “I did this and I got through it okay”.

You’re giving them something to hold onto in really bad times

and I am thankful for you because of it.

This year’s Team Ivy Day is the start of something special.