- Monash Children's Hospital
- 2 min read
Families flocked to Aspendale Gardens over the weekend for The Biggest Playdate.
The annual fun day out raised an incredible $86,000 for Monash Children’s Hospital Cancer Centre.
9 News attended, capturing people enjoying games, face-painting, live performances, and carnival rides.
Since 2016, the grassroots event organised by The Miranda Foundation has raised more than $300,000 for clinical care roles and innovative research at the cancer centre.
‘We are so grateful for the dedication and tireless efforts of Taylah, Vanessa and the Miranda Foundation in raising funds for care and research at Monash Children’s Hospital Cancer Centre,’ said John De Rango, Director of the Monash Health Foundation.
Taylah’s story
Two-time cancer survivor and aspiring oncologist Taylah Miranda runs The Biggest Playdate with her family as a way of expressing immense gratitude for the care she received at Monash Children’s Hospital.
Taylah was first admitted to Monash Children’s Hospital when she was 14 following a diagnosis of blood cancer, acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
‘The journey is long, and chemotherapy is awful and grueling,’ Taylah told 9 News.
In 2017, she finished cancer treatment, completed Year 12, and was accepted to study Biomedical Science at university. However, in 2019, Taylah found out the leukemia had come back, and another year of chemotherapy followed.
Taylah is now cancer-free and this year started a Doctor of Medicine at the University of Queensland.
‘I hope to one day return to Monash and be a paediatric oncologist and treat kids just like I was treated.’
Giving back to families at Monash Children’s Hospital
The Miranda family credit the life-saving treatment Taylah received at Monash Health, alongside witnessing the suffering of other families, as the reason behind founding The Biggest Playdate.
‘If we can make it a little bit easier for families, we are happy,’ said Taylah’s mum, Vanessa Miranda. ‘Every child deserves everything they can get during that difficult time.’
The annual fundraiser is helping to fund the role of an Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Cancer Nurse Consultant at Monash Children’s Hospital.
The AYA Cancer Nurse Consultant helps adolescents who have received a cancer diagnosis navigate big questions around schooling, moving out of home, and university study.
‘A cancer diagnosis impacts the way an adolescent feels about the future,’ said Tegan Leigh, AYA Cancer Nurse Consultant. ‘Without the support of the Miranda Foundation, it would be really difficult for us to provide the care we do.’
‘The Miranda Foundation has been fundamental in ensuring we can continue top-level adolescent and young adolescent cancer support at Monash Health.’
