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Women’s and Children’s Hospital
Ngangkiku Ngartuku Kukuwardli
Acknowledgement
The Women's and Children's Hospital is located on the traditional lands for the Kaurna people, and we respect their spiritual relationship with their Country. We also acknowledge that the Kaurna people are the custodians of the Adelaide region, and that their cultural and heritage beliefs are still as important to the living Kaurna people today.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website may contain images, voices and names of people who have passed away.

Sporting Hearts

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Healthy Focus
Posted 8 Dec 2022

Hospital visits from sports stars have been limited for our patients since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, so it has been extra special to welcome both familiar and new faces to the WCH this year as restrictions began to ease.

Here are some of our recent highlights!

Port Adelaide Power: Childhood Cancer Ambassador, Travis Boak

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Port superstar Travis Boak is a longstanding, passionate ambassador of The Childhood Cancer Association and has been supporting patients undergoing treatment for more than 10 years with regular visits to the hospital.

In August, Travis returned with teammates Aliir Aliir and Brynn Teakle to have a chat to patients in the Michael Rice Centre for Haematology and Oncology.

With health and safety our number one priority, our visitors from Alberton first dropped by the Worker Health unit for their N95 mask fit testing. It was a nervous wait for Travis, whose facial hair looked like it might affect the mask’s seal, but thankfully he just passed the test. For the record, Travis was more than happy to get the razor out to make sure the visit went ahead!

Everyone was certainly starstruck by the visit and the Port boys took time to hang out with our families, signing plenty of footballs for patients along the way.

It’s great to have you back, team!

Dylan Alcott: Gold medallist, Grand Slammer, Aussie of the Year

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Dylan Alcott's accolades are too plentiful to name, but if it was up to 11-year-old Charlie he would be adding ‘all-round great guy’ to the Australian of the Year’s honours list.

Charlie uses a wheelchair for muscular dystrophy and in the last few years has taken a real shine to Powerchair soccer. With the generosity of the Dylan Alcott Foundation, Charlie was able to get hold of his own powerchair, which means he can really commit to the sport and keep improving.

On the day when Dylan had planned to visit Charlie and his teammates on the court, an untimely hospital stay got in the way. So, when Dylan heard about this, he was happy to come to us instead!

Not only was Charlie thrilled with meeting his hero, he also wore Dylan’s Olympic golds while the two had great chats about school and sport.

Thanks for coming, Dylan!

Adelaide United

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As the World Cup kicked off, we didn’t have to look any further than our own front door for soccer stardom. Childhood Cancer ambassador and Adelaide United goalkeeper, Joe Gauci, dropped by the Michael Rice Centre for Haematology and Oncology with his teammate, George Blackwood.

The two had lengthy chats with our young cohort and found plenty of fans and families thrilled to receive signed mementos from a great afternoon.

See you next time, Joe and George!


Thank you to all of our special visitors for taking time out of their days to bring joy to the children and young people in our care.

A shout out to the Childhood Cancer Association and Dylan Alcott Foundation for your ongoing support of our patients.

Stay tuned for what we have in store for 2023!