Miles4Mac is the brainchild of Ted Chick, a year 10 student at the Armidale School.
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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.
Mac Downes is a 14 and lives with his mum and dad, Gill and Guy, and his older sister, Mila, and younger brother, Ethan in Uralla. 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.
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 many hours in rehabilitation and is on his third round of chemotherapy. He has lost 10 kilos, all of his hair and the ability to walk. His family say that despite this, 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.
The family say they 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" they said.
"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," said Ted.
He will be in Singleton today.
Locally Ted is being sponsored by Betts, Bowers and Hogan transport companies.
Ted hopes to arrive for school on the morning of Monday 13 May.
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.
So have it has raised $23,000.
To support Ted's fundraising efforts: miles4mac.au
Louise Nichols
From cattle to coal. Once a specialist agriculture writer today its about community, in particular, the Upper Hunter. I have lived and worked in the region for more than 30 years. Land use issues and the future direction of our region. But you cannot take ag out of the picture - our food and how we grow it is the basis of all life. Covering the Hunter and Mid North Coast rural issues is now part of my role with ACM.
From cattle to coal. Once a specialist agriculture writer today its about community, in particular, the Upper Hunter. I have lived and worked in the region for more than 30 years. Land use issues and the future direction of our region. But you cannot take ag out of the picture - our food and how we grow it is the basis of all life. Covering the Hunter and Mid North Coast rural issues is now part of my role with ACM.
