I became a new mum to a beautiful little boy with ACC in 2018.

I still have my ‘L’ plates on, but having learned a lot over the past year and a half or so regarding Disorders of the Corpus Callosum I took it upon myself to spread the word to our family and friends about the disorder and host a little morning tea for International Awareness Day, 2nd July.

My goal was to spread the word and to help people understand some of the challenges we may face with our son and ACC and how rare this condition is; at the same time raise a few dollars and give the money to the charity that will be part of our lives for a very long time, AusDoCC. Every little bit helps whether it be in dollar form or volunteering time towards further support and research.

I arranged a local hall to hold the occasion. I also asked two local businesses that I regularly frequent to donate a small something for a raffle. Both mine and my partner’s parents were very kind and supplied tea, coffee and an array of sweet treats for everyone to enjoy.

We have in our area a great little Toy Library, they kindly allowed me to hire (at my own cost but for a great deal) some toys for all the kids that would be there. This was fabulous and also meant that I didn’t have to lug our own from home.

I printed some useful pictures and information from Google to make a poster for people to read, in conjunction with the AusDoCC brochure. I ordered from the AusDoCC Shop: wristbands, stickers, temporary tattoos and I was lucky to be sent some extra items as a bonus. I also ordered a T shirt for myself which I wore proudly. We even had some friends that travelled 45mins away with kids in tow to show their support which was very humbling.

My son’s childcare centre did a fabulous job on such short notice for Awareness Day too. They ordered cupcakes from one of the local bakeries and sold them to raise awareness.

It got many people talking, especially the childcare staff who wanted to learn more and be better prepared for when my son progresses through the rooms in the centre towards kindergarten – gee that sounds scary! I dropped in my poster for them to put on their notice board for parents to see. As the centre is also a kindergarten, I understand they had the kinder kids colouring in a picture of a brain and had a little discussion about how the brain is special. They have been extremely supportive and are already thinking of ideas for the next Awareness Day. Around $35 was raised from the sale of the cupcakes which was super!

My sister, who is part of their administration team, happened to be working on Awareness Day and wore my t shirt proudly, along with her wristband. Not many of the staff realised that my son was her nephew so she was even more proud to tell his story.

She has also started the discussion with her eldest daughter about ACC because of the morning tea. My niece wore a wristband, she is almost 6, and she will very happily tell you when asked that my son ‘is her cousin and that he is special and he has a part of his brain missing, so he might need some help with learning to do things.’ She has said she will help him with his ABCs which is rather cute. She started school this year and loves her new wristband for her cousin.

Between our raffle, wristbands etc and general donations we raised $218!! Add the cupcake money, which brought the grand total to $253!!

I’m very proud of my first ever fundraiser. It wasn’t all that difficult to organise and I have learned to perhaps start my planning with a little more time up my sleeve if I decide to host another event.

Maree Maxfield (AusDoCC Secretary), was especially helpful considering she was on the other side of the world in a different time zone for communication, I think we did rather well. Thanks Maree!

One thing I regret slightly is, I wished I had been able to give a little talk or something instead of just thanking everyone for coming. Note to self…. Work on public speaking and delegation! Haha

Who knows what the future holds and I hope this may inspire others to help spread the word about Disorders of the Corpus Callosum.

Bonnie Eden

The whole AusDoCC Committee would like to thank and congratulate Bonnie Eden for her enormous achievement of organising and running a fundraiser.