MERCURY SERIES - Making A Difference
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Just over a decade ago a one-year-old boy named Noah Southall was diagnosed with a rare condition called Proteus syndrome.
Noah lived his life in pain but one thing that helped him push that aside was his role as an ambassador for other sick and disabled children.
In his role with KidzWish during the last three years of his life, Noah became a familiar face just like his fellow ambassadors Matt Campbell and Wendell Sailor.
Now his mother Ros Southall is doing what she can to carry on his legacy.
Mrs Southall started working for KidzWish doing office work one day a week six weeks ago, where she is close to many photos and wonderful memories of Noah, which serve as a constant reminder of the big impact her son made in such a short life.
"This allows me to still have a connection here with him," she said.
"He was doing a lot for KidzWish and now I want to do something."
Mrs Southall wanted to do more in a voluntary capacity and this week introduced a new program to help siblings of children like Noah.
"One of my passions is for siblings because they miss out on so much ... so we decided we would start a parents and sibling support group," she said.
Last night she organised a mother's pamper night and she is gathering information from parents about the siblings so she can organise outings for them and give them a chance to be normal kids for a few hours and form friendships and their own support networks.
"We would like to help the fathers as well," she said.
Mrs Southall is being helped by her daughter and Noah's older sister Victoria, 15, who missed out on so much herself after the age of three because her mother was always in hospital with Noah.
Mrs Southall said that Noah's role as ambassador had been good for the whole family, who wanted to carry on his work.
"He just had a heart that just melted other people's hearts and they wanted to give what they could to the charity as well," she said.
"He was a character and loved being in front of the camera and microphone. He thrived on it. There was never a dull moment when any of the ambassadors got together. He became so well known that people would stop him in the shopping centre and he would then ask them for $50 for the campaign. Sometimes I think he got a little too cheeky but they just laughed it off."
Mrs Southall said in reality every day of the last three years of his life was a struggle for Noah but he had a face that everyone fell in love with and people could not help but like him.
That love and support helped him cope.
"The last 12 months was really a struggle but whenever KidzWish rang to say 'we need a photo for the paper' or 'we need to do a commercial' he was more than happy to contribute," she said.
"It was great to see that transformation from being in agony with pain all over him one minute to then laughing and carrying on with Matt, Max and Wendell the next."
What people did not see was how the pain took over again half an hour later.
Mrs Southall said she and her husband Mark were grateful to everyone involved in KidzWish and the community who helped Noah take his mind off the pain for those short periods.
Her own interest in volunteering started with the first campaign Noah did.
It was his wish for his friends to be able to go to the Christmas Party and they all has such a great time he got involved every year after that.
"When he passed away I thought there is more to his 11 years on this earth ... and I just felt I needed to carry on the campaign and help out where I could," she said.
Mrs Southall said it was good to carry on Noah's legacy because she knew how difficult it was for others in a similar situation.
Mrs Southall said in honour of Noah they had formed Team Noah to take donations to help grant a wish to another child. She has two fondest memories of Noah's association with KidzWish.
"The most emotional thing was when Noah got up with Justice Crew at the ball and sang You Raise Me Up with them," she said.
"That was amazing because at rehearsal he could not remember the words, he could not do anything and he was not going to do it. But then all of a sudden when it came to showtime he was like the performer. But the funniest thing was when he did the first campaign with Matt Campbell and they had a cardboard cut-out of them all for the campaign. He looked at himself in the pose he had in the photo and said 'does my butt look big in this'? The whole place just cracked up and that was the sort of kid he was. He just made people laugh!"