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Mac Downes is a 14 year old kid who lives with his mum and dad, Gill and Guy, and his older sister, Mila, and younger brother, Ethan in Uralla, NSW. He loves hanging out with friends and family and spending time with his dogs, Rufus and Hattie. 

Before November 2023, Mac was a healthy, active kid and his diagnosis of non Hodgkin’s lymphoma came as a huge shock. He had a sore back and was finding it hard to sleep through the night for a month or so and after a few check-ups he wasn’t getting any better.

Mac

Monday 13th May

Our generous supporters

Please support Miles4Mac - The brainchild of Ted Chick, a year 10 student at the Armidale School. Ted plans to run 20 days and over 530kms from Sydney to Armidale to raise funds and awareness for family friend and schoolmate Cormac (Mac) Downes.

In late 2023 Mac's health deteriorated rapidly and was diagnosed with an aggressive tumour on his spine. Overnight the Downes family life was turned upside down. Miles4Mac hopes to ease the challenges of the Downes family and also other regional families in similar predicaments through the fantastic support of Win the Day.

On November 15, after being airlifted to Newcastle for tests, we found out Mac had a large tumour on his spine, it was between T3 and T6 and as evidenced by his increasing loss of movement in his legs, was starting to cause damage to his spine. Mac was operated on that night - a procedure called a laminectomy - in the hope of removing pressure on the spine and also to take a tissue sample to enable testing to occur to determine the type of cancer. 

Four months in, Mac has spent hours and hours of time in rehabilitation and is on his third rigorous round of chemotherapy. He has lost 10 kilos, all of his hair and the ability to walk. However, he has gained an immense insight into what it is to suffer yet push past pain and discomfort to achieve real progress. The cancer is currently behaving, it has shrunk almost entirely. Mac has worked hard to regain weight and build muscle: he can sit up on his own, transfer on his own from wheelchair to bed (and back again) and as recent as the last two weeks, he can now stand up with the aid of hand rails. 

We are a long way from home and a long way from the end goal of beating cancer, walking again and returning home to Uralla. But we are well on the way due to Mac’s tenacity, the hard work of his rehab and oncology teams at Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick and the immense and humbling support of our community. How fortunate we are. 

Ted

Ted will look to average over 25kms/day over 20 days to complete the 530km trip, he hopes to arrive for school on the morning of Monday 13th of May. Ted is keen for anyone to join him along the trip and as many as possible to do the last Miles in to school on the 13th.

Please help Ted help Mac and others in tackling the challenges of living regionally with illness.

Ted Chick is your average 16 year old, loves his sport, his mates and hanging around with the family. Earlier this year Ted happened to bump in to Mac's dad Guy at school one afternoon and was taken aback by the impact of Mac's illness and the challenges facing him and his family. It got Ted thinking, what could I do to help?

That night Ted took himself off and composed a plan, came out and declared "I want to run from Sydney to Armidale to help Mac and the Downes Family, I'm so lucky and feel I should do something to help" 

And so Miles 4 Mac was born,

Ted Chick is your average 16 year old, loves his sport, his mates and hanging around with the family. Earlier this year Ted happened to bump in to Mac's dad Guy at school one afternoon and was taken aback by the impact of Mac's illness and the challenges facing him and his family. It got Ted thinking, what could I do to help?

That night Ted took himself off and composed a plan, came out and declared "I want to run from Sydney to Armidale to help Mac and the Downes Family, I'm so lucky and feel I should do something to help" 

And so Miles 4 Mac was born,

Grab some merch

Sponsor Ted

In conjunction with the Downes family, Miles 4 Mac will allocate funds raised to Win The Day.

The Win the Day Organisation is a public, non-profit organisation established primarily to financially support families with accommodation, meal assistance and one-off treatment grants, as well as to raise awareness and support the funding of research related to rare childhood cancers.

Win the Day charity has been developed with a clear mission to alleviate the financial and emotional stress and worry that families experience when they are already in chaos.

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