CDH Australia celebrated its inaugural Sunflower Sunday on the 13th March 2011 with CDH families gathering in parks to share a fun picnic with their extended families and friends. Events were held in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth and an event was planned for Townsville but had to be cancelled due to severe weather conditions. There were also a few smaller gatherings held by families around Australia.
It was a day to celebrate our wonderful support group, CDH Australia, and the friendships that have been made across the country, and around the world, between people who would never have met had it not been for our shared CDH bond. We also celebrated and acknowledged our wonderful volunteers who give up their time to help families going through tough times, times that the volunteers have been through themselves.
Sunflower Sunday was also about raising CDH awareness and how it affects children and their families. Awareness is crucial!!! Without awareness, gaining funding is difficult. And without funding we will never be able to find the cause of CDH or a cure.
The most important part of the day was all about our cherubs – our beautiful children with CDH who we hold close, whether in our arms or in our hearts. By releasing balloons for our cherubs we remembered their fighting spirits, their preciousness and their gift of love with smiles breaking through our tears.
Comments from the day highlight how important Sunflower Sunday was to our families and how it touched people in different ways.
MELBOURNE
“This was another emotional day for me. To be there as a CDH mum who paid the ultimate price with the loss of our child only a few months earlier, it was sad, very sad but at the same time a nice way to formally recognise and remember the CDH journey my little gladiator fought so hard to beat for what was his 10 short weeks of life. CDH came into my life on the 18th of April 2010 when our son was first diagnosed and will now be a part of my life forever.”
“For me the best part was catching up with CDH families and also introducing new friends to CDH Australia. The awareness is spreading as one of my friends who came along has been wearing her awareness band and telling people at her gym about CDH. We had a lovely, relaxing time and are grateful the weather held out long enough for us to release the balloons for all the cherubs. The day wasn’t too sad for me as it was more about sharing the day with friends. I had let the tears flow in the couple of weeks leading up to Sunflower Sunday as I read all the cherub stories on the website to remember them.”
“Was great to catch up with other CDH families in a relaxed setting. It was really lovely to take the time to have a moment of reflection when we came together for the balloon release. I know it meant different things to each family as we all hold our own memories in our hearts.”
Click here to view photos from the Melbourne 2011 event
SYDNEY
“Sunflower Sunday was a wonderful day, Sydney’s weather turned right out and we had a lovely crowd, we had families come from as far as Canberra, we had some very inspirational families there we met some beautiful cherubs like Arianna, Holly, Liam and Simon and we also honoured some beautiful cherubs that were with us in spirit Brayden, Chloe and Lewis. It was a very emotional day towards the end and when it came to reading Sunflower Sunday words I could not do this, I then passed onto Jade who got through a little and her emotions took hold then it was onto Kris to finish it for us. Not only was it Sunflower Sunday it would have been Brayden’s 9th birthday. What a day for Sunflower Sunday to fall on. Sydney’s first Sunflower Sunday was a great success and looking forward to it being bigger and better next year.”
Click here to view photos from the Sydney 2011 event
PERTH
“Sunflower Sunday in Perth saw families and friends at Perth’s Kings Park. Perth’s weather was perfect for our very first Sunflower Sunday. Grandparents and children enjoyed playing cricket and the children had loads of fun on the play equipment. Our balloon release was watched by many and was really beautiful. We had a lovely lunch and got to know each other. We look forward to Sunflower Sunday 2012 and seeing many of our CDH Australia WA friends.”
“On Sunday 13th March 2011, at Kings Park in Perth, I meet up with other families that have children with CDH. Meeting our families helped me understand and find out more about kids with CDH. I meet a wonderful woman named, Sharon, who has a son that has the same RCDH as my son does. We talked about feeding delays and speech delays, even just the physical side of things, like the recession in the chest. The 2 boys, Liam and Eli, had the best time ever, meeting each other, although shy at first, they became close and played for a good number of hours. Declan, my other son, had fun playing with Sharon’s husband, he didn’t want to leave he was having that much fun. We all had a wonderful lunch, talked for ages, kids played all day. As the day came to an end, it was sad to leave as I had so much fun meeting Sharon that I didn’t want to leave. Now that I have met other families with CDH and have been introduced to their website, I have met more and more wonderful people that share the same conditions as my son and it’s wonderful to share our information and stories and I now know that with all this help, and if it wasn’t for Sharon, then I would have thought that our family was the only one out there. Sunflower Sunday was the best day ever and I would encourage everyone to come to the next one.”
Click here to view photos from the Perth 2011 event
BRISBANE
“A small group of members, together with friends and extended family, gathered at New Farm Park for morning tea on what was an absolutely beautiful day. We shared some yummy treats and swapped stories of our experiences. Those of us who had met previously took the time to catch up; we were also thrilled to meet some new members who had come along. The kids all had a ball exploring the park and using the great facilities. The event finished with our special ceremony and the release/blowing of a park full of bubbles. It was a great day. We look forward to doing it again next year and hope to share it with a lot more members.”
Click here to view photos from the Brisbane 2011 event
