This weekend is the Bendigo Little Aths Royal Childrens Hospital Relaython.

 Program 1 will be held on saturday along with the relay. We ask that your children wear something orange, like a ribbon, socks, hairspray, etc.

We will also be selling egg & bacon rolls to help raise funds. And if there is anyone out there that wants to make donations for the amount of laps we can do we would love to hear from you!!

This season holds a special place in our communities hearts with one of our families (Peters/Goodwin) enduring the heartbreaking loss of their beautiful boy Romeo. The Royal Children’s Hospital became the families second home and you can read all about it below.

About Romeo Goodwin

Romeo Miller Goodwin was born on 7th May, 2019 at 34weeks with multiple congenital abnormalities “VACTERL”.

He was the younger Brother to Ava (9), Tahj(8) and Indigo(7) and a perfectly imperfect addition to his parents Dave & Amie Goodwin. Romeo was born with multiple internal plumbing issues affecting is heart, Bowel, Oesophagus & Trachea. None of which was diagnosed prior to him being born. Romeos heart was half the size on the right than the left, his trachea was too narrow, his oesophagus didn’t join to his stomach and both his oesophagus and his bowel stopped at a dead end. The day after Romeo was born his parents Amie and Dave were told that their son had only a 10-20% chance of survival.

However, Romeo defied the odds and spent 144 days fighting in the NICU at the Royal Children’s Hospital and underwent many lifesaving surgeries including 8 hours worth of surgery at just 8 hours old, and open heart surgery at just 2 weeks old. Because of his other diagnosis, Romeo also had a tracheostomy, gastrostomy and colostomy, all of which he needed temporarily to survive. Amie lived at The Ronald McDonald house in Fitzroy for almost 5 months while Dave and the 3 older children did the back and forth trips between Melbourne & Bendigo, while still going to work and school.

Finally, on 24th September 2019, Romeo, the medically complex warrior finally got to come home and be with his family. He had his next open heart surgery scheduled for Late November so Amie & Dave made the most of their time together. Including Romeo in all the ‘normal’ things to ensure he wasn’t treated any differently. Amie & Dave planned their wedding for the 7th November so they could ensure Romeo would be part of their special day.

Unfortunately, after a little over 3 weeks at home Romeo was flown by helicopter back to the RCH.

The next day Dave and Amie were told that baby Romeo’s heart was failing his tiny body and that there was nothing else that they could do. Romeo spent the next 3 days with his family in the RCH and passed away aged 5.5months, in his parents arms on Monday 21st October. The staff and facilities of the RCH made Romeos short, but beautiful life possible.