Townville parents Tenille and Mitch James will pay tribute to daughter Andie when they hold their fundraiser for Red Nose this Mother’s Day eve on Saturday, 11 May 2024.
In April 2022, Tenille and Mitch suddenly lost their daughter Andie at nine months old.
Since Andie’s passing, Tenille and Mitch have kept Andie’s spirit alive by honouring her the best way they could – by holding fundraisers for Red Nose.
Two years ago, the James family were the second-highest fundraisers in the country for Red Nose Day. Last year, they became the highest fundraisers, raising over $60,000 for much needed funds for safe sleeping and research initiatives.
This year, mum Tenille hopes it’ll be third time lucky as the fundraiser takes over First Base Gym’s Domain Central branch in Townsville.
“Over the last couple of years, we have found that honouring our daughter helped ease the pain and one of the best ways we could do that was through our community fundraisers,” Tenille says.
“It helped navigate our grief as best as we could.
“The loss of a child is something that you pray will never happen, but sadly the reality is that it happens to Australian families every day. And when it does happen, it can feel life shattering - it rocks you to your very core. The support services that Red Nose provides to these families in crisis is invaluable.
“The community Red Nose has built made us feel like we were not the only ones,” Tenille says.
The fundraiser will sprint off this Saturday at 7am. Five teams of 20 people will be asked to keep two treadmills, a bike, a ski and a rower in motion for 60 minutes. The team with the greatest distance travelled across all machines, wins a prize.
The funds raised will go to much-needed Red Nose bereavement support services and lifesaving safe sleep research.
To donate to the fundraiser visit First Base Red Nose Fundraiser.
Media contact: Maria Salvador at mariasalvador@rednose.org.au or call 0402 941 493
