By Shelby Brooks
The wider Cardinia community is rallying behind a Yannathan girl’s plight with an incurable neurological condition by holding an epic fundraiser to support others living with the rare illness.
Evie Kitchin, who is two and a half years old, was born with Congenital Hydrocephalus, a condition in which an accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) occurs within the brain.
This typically causes increased pressure inside the skull and causes it to swell.
If left untreated it can cause blindness, brain damage and in severe cases even death.
Evie’s parents, Jess and Travis Kitchin, have been on a tough medical journey in Evie’s short lifetime.
Evie was born at just 2.1 kg after her condition was first identified when Jess was pregnant.
Little Evie already undergone two brain surgeries, with surgeries expected for the rest of her life.
A shunt was inserted into her brain at just 13 weeks to help drain the brain fluid to her stomach.
Unfortunately the shunt failed when she was seven months old so she had to undergo surgery again.
Evie also will need eye surgery in the future after the pressure in the brain caused damage to her eyes.
She cannot walk, feed, talk or sit up by herself yet.
“It’s been really really hard,“ Jess said.
“But Evie is happy and healthy and just a bit slower than other children at this stage but in a few years we’re hoping she’ll be at a stage you wouldn’t know about her condition to see her.“
Jess and Travis are hosting a fundraiser at the Iona Cricket Club on Saturday 5 February to raise funds for the Hydrocephalus Support Association.
They hope to raise awareness for the condition and help other families going through the same thing as them.
“This is the first time we’re doing something like this,“ Jess said.
“My husband and I didn’t know anything about Hydrocephalus before we went through this ourselves.
“We want to spread the word and raise awareness for the association as it is a small one that not many people know about.“
The event will include a sausage sizzle, jumping castle and face painting for the kids, as well as live music, raffles and silent auctions.
The cricket club league president will be shaving his beloved beard and Travis will be shaving off his delightful dreadlock mullet that he has been growing for over 18 months to support the cause.
Whoever bids the highest will be the one to shave Travis’ mullet.
Local businesses including T.C Boxes Pakenham, Bunnings Trade East Pakenham, Repco Pakenham, Repco Pakenham Lakeside, Liberty Equipment Hire, XM Excavations, Shoreline Pest Control, Prouds Jewellers Pakenham, B and M Flower Farm in Lang Lang, Fechners Transport Bayles and the Essendon Football Club have all donated items or sponsored the event.
Local musicians Meg Doherty, Seventh Winter and Tegan Blackstock are all donating their time to play live music for the night.
Local cattle auctioneer Ryan Bajada is coming to call the auctions.
“We’ve been blown away by the response from the community, it’s been just phenomenal,“ Jess said.
Head to the event Facebook page at fb.me/e/1nRInxNjv to learn more.
