It’s been another record breaking Good Friday Appeal, raising an extraordinary $22,328,154 for The Royal Children’s Hospital!

The Good Friday Appeal has now reached an incredible milestone and has raised $421,328,154 for the RCH over 91 years.

There was a full day of activity at the RCH for inpatients and their families, with virtual and physical tin shakes, and the generous support of Victorians far and wide helping raise vital funds for sick children.

RCH CEO Bernadette McDonald said that throughout these tough times, there’s a few things that keep the team going to deliver the very best care to the children, young people and their families.

“One of these things is the Good Friday Appeal. The Good Friday Appeal allows us to repay the faith of everyone who supports us through world leading care and that means so much to the entire team here at the RCH.

“We pride ourselves in being there for our patients and are left humbled with the generosity that is shown by the Victorian community, particularly during the Good Friday Appeal.

“We’re so incredibly grateful to be the recipients of your generosity, which helps make us one of the world’s leading paediatric hospitals.”

Below are some of the ways funds from this year’s Appeal will support us to deliver great care at the RCH.

• A partnership with healthcare providers in the Wimmera Southern Mallee region to improve children’s health and development through a telehealth trial. Clinicians from the RCH will collaborate with local GPs to increase their skills and co-consult with families on behavioural and developmental concerns.
• A dedicated Precision Newborn Health Program to support high risk newborns, providing personalised and gene-targeting treatments to predict severity of illnesses in the most vulnerable of newborns. By detecting this early we can ensure they receive the right treatment at the right time.
• An exciting global partnership where newly diagnosed patients with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and lymphoblastic lymphoma will have access to the latest in personalised medicine through an international collaboration with St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in America. This collaboration will allow blood and bone marrow samples from our patients here at the RCH to be sent to St Jude, where they will use diagnostic tools and gene mapping to identify specific cancer-causing gene fusions in patients. This means our patients will receive treatment that is specifically designed to fight their particular type of cancer.

The Appeal also supports many ongoing services at the RCH including our apheresis service, the Wadja Health Clinic and the Music Therapy Program.

“Thank you to everyone who makes this possible – our supporters, our media partners, The Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation, and every single person who contributed to the Good Friday Appeal in 2022 and for the 90 years previous,” said Bernadette. 

Check out some photos from the day below.