This photograph by the Mercury’s Sylvia Liber is a beautiful shot, no doubt – but there’s even more in it than meets the eye.
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For a start, those torsos belong to a pair of Olympians, Wollongong’s Emma and David McKeon.
And the seven-year-old loving it underwater isn’t a pupil at the McKeons’ swimming school at Unanderra, but a young girl whose battle with a rare degenerative brain disease has seen the community dig deep to support her.
In fact, it was only a few weeks ago that young Chloe Saxby couldn’t put her head underwater at all.
This was a far cry from how she used to be a few years ago – loving swimming with her head underwater, playing in the pool like any other fun-loving kid.
Chloe, from Woonona, is one of just seven Australians with Vanishing White Matter Disease, a disease for which there is not yet a cure, and no government help.
Her parents Nyree and Grant have launched an online campaign called Saving Chloe Saxby – its goal is to raise $2.6 million for vital research to try and cure the disease.
When Susie and Ron McKeon heard about this, “of course” they were going to do a fundraiser, Susie said. Nyree used to swim in Ron’s squad when she was younger, and they didn’t think twice.
A pool party was organised and the younger McKeons, Emma and David, delighted the Saxbys by coming and helping Chloe swim in the water. And they donated $1000 to the cause.
They also performed the “Rainbow Challenge” – take a photo of yourself with the Saving Chloe Saxby rainbow, post it on Facebook or Instagram, donate $5 at to the campaign, then tag and nominate five other people to spread the word.
Mrs Saxby said she had been stunned by the success of this – there had been posts from total strangers as far away as Tokyo and Cape Town.
She knows the target is a huge one, but with her daughter in such dire need, she is giving it her all.
“We’ve got to try anything we can,” Ms Saxby said. “Giving up is not an option. We’ve got to keep going, and do each little thing we can do.”
She said some of the greatest supporters so far had been young school students, many of whom had arranged fundraising events, and come to understand the reality of the disease.
“I think at the schools we’ve been to, these kids are going to have a lot more empathy and understanding for kids with a disability or a health problem,” she said.
“So in this way, there’s something good coming from a bad thing that’s happened.”
To help the campaign or to donate money go to the website savingchloesaxby.com
