Pushing for Purpose: Cam and Iggy’s run for cerebral palsy

DRYSDALE dad Cameron Young and his son Iggy will complete their first full marathon while raising money for a local health services foundation in Geelong.

Mr Young will push Iggy, who has cerebral palsy, in a specially made pram on February 18 for 42km.

Starting at their Drysdale home, his ‘Pushing for Purpose’ run will head to the Geelong Showgrounds, returning via the Bellarine Rail Trail, finishing at about 10:30am at the Drysdale Hawks netball courts, all to raise money for the Kids+ Foundation.

Mr Young and wife Olivia’s twin boys, Iggy and Vance, who turned two today (Friday, February 10) were born premature at 28 weeks and spent their first six weeks in the ICU at the Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne before being transferred to St John of God Special Care Nursery in Geelong for four weeks.

Iggy, however, was diagnosed with a Periventricular Leukomalacia (PVL) which required Early Intervention treatment, while Vance received treatment for prematurity.

Since then, Iggy was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, and both Cam and Olivia were linked in with Kids+ Foundation’s Parent Infant Program (PIP), which supports parents with similar diagnoses throughout the first 12 months following birth.

Heavily entrenched in learning about cerebral palsy, Mr Young was inspired by the story of Richard Hoyt, who ran with his son who also had the disorder.

Mr Young has been in training for his and Iggy’s marathon since September.

“After Iggy was diagnosed and I came across this story, it sort of just sat at the back of my mind,” he said.

“It’s always been a goal of mine to do a marathon and to think I could share this moment with Iggy was the motivation I needed to commit to this.”

Mr Young and his family were taken aback by community support, with residents and businesses jumping on board to raise funds.

The Young family has also raised an abundance of funding through selling T-shirts, initially made just for the run, which Mr Young said would be given to supporters of the fundraiser.

“Hopefully we get a decent turnout on the day, the support we’ve received has blown us away and we couldn’t be more grateful,” he said.

“I sometimes feel like I might be doing the easy part, given so much of the community is chipping in out of their own pocket.

“But seeing the generosity really reminds me just how great a community it is that we live in and how lucky we are.”

Mr Young’s goal for ‘Pushing 4 Purpose’ is to raise $1,000 for every kilometre run.

As of Wednesday this week, $28,119 had been raised.

To donate to Pushing 4 Purpose, head to givenow.com.au/cr/pushingforpurpose