Be a superhero for child heart disease

Get ready for "superhero" day at Treetops

Hero For HeartKids Day on Friday, June 17 is a fun way to unleash hidden superpowers by dressing up in a favourite superhero for the day while raising money and awareness for children living with congenital heart disease.

TreeTops Adventures at Wyong Creek is getting behind the cause in a big way on Saturday to Sunday, June 18 and 19, with staff dressing up in their most impressive superhero outfits and the public can join in by going along in their best superhero costume.

Staff at Supercheap Auto stores will also be donning their superhero outfits on June 18 and there will be in-store activities throughout the week.

Many businesses, community leaders and people from all walks of life are participating in the Australia-wide event, now in its eighth year, to show their support for the real heroes, the thousands of brave children who are living with the life-threatening challenges of congenital heart disease (CHD).

This year, HeartKids is on a mission to help the 72,000 Australians who battle CHD, which is one of the biggest causes of death in babies.

Every day in Australia there are eight children born with a heart defect which means there is one family every three hours whose life will change in a heartbeat.

The condition is lifelong with no known cure and many children will require ongoing treatment including open-heart surgeries throughout their life.

All money raised through Hero for HeartKids goes to providing support for families with children undergoing heart surgery, for hospital support services, a helpline, parent networking programs and financial support for families doing it tough.

HeartKids CEO Fiona Ellis said Hero for HeartKids was “an opportunity for the community to harness their superhuman powers and be a positive force, directly helping seriously ill children and their families.”

To date, HeartKids has committed more than $3.5M to fund research into the causes, treatment and management of children heart disease.

Sue Murray