Ten-year-old Trafalgar schoolboy Kyan Jenkins learnt first-hand at a young age about the devastation and pain of a cancer diagnosis and resolved to do something about it.
Kyan lost an aunty to the disease last year and then his grandfather was also diagnosed with cancer.
The grade 5 student decided to sell the football cards he began collecting when he was just three and donate the proceeds to the Cancer Council for research into the prevention of cancer. He set up a trestle table outside his dad’s hardware store in Trafalgar and hasn’t looked back.
Kyan started with a modest goal but had to quickly revise it upwards as his message touched the hearts of strangers across the state.
“I only started with [a target of] $1000 because my mum said, ‘son, don’t get disappointed if you don’t raise over $50’,” he said.
“Since I went on the news, I’ve gone viral and I’m really happy that everyone’s hopped on board and tried to help.”
Kyan’s new goal is $10,000 and he is almost halfway there.
A listener named Brad phoned in while Kyan was being interviewed on ABC radio and donated $700 on the spot. A woman donated $2000, a couple drove from East Gippsland to hand over 1000 football cards and an op shop sent several albums of cards for Kyan to sell. A north-east AFL league also donated a game ball for him to sell.
A highlight of Kyan’s campaign came during a Melbourne radio interview when St Kilda AFL player Josh Bruce called in and promised to organise a signed football and for the young Saints supporter to run out on to the field with the team.
In even better news, Kyan’s grandfather is doing well with his treatment.
