A ‘‘card-a-thon’’ for a Point Cook boy who has cancer has gone viral, with cards for his 10th birthday arriving from around the world.
Rafael Moraes has been battling cancer for half of his life and is undergoing regular chemotherapy, but is looking forward to getting cards for his milestone birthday.
Point Cook family day care educator Tierney Randall, who started the card-a-thon, says cards have come from around the world.
Celebrities like actor Matt Le Nevez, from the TV series
Offspring, have also tweeted about the campaign.
“There are so many cards that they cover my entire [dining] table,” Ms Randall said. “I can’t wait to knock on the door and give him all the cards, but I am going to have to get my partner to help me.”
Fiona Jardine, manager of Wyndham Early Learning Family Day Care, who has donated the use of her post office box, said the response had been overwhelming.
“A post office worker was telling me that in 21 years they had worked [at the post office] they had never seen so many cards,” she said.
Rafael, who has neuroblastoma, a solid tumour cancer of the sympathetic nervous system, turns 10 on March 25.
Last month his father, Domingoes Moraes, told the
Weekly the cards will fill his son with joy. “The idea of someone sending him a birthday card will make him feel special.”
His mother, Natasha Moraes, says that, depending on his health, Rafael hopes to spend his birthday at a school camp at Anglesea.
“He loves school, he loves his friends and teachers and wants to go to camp, but so far he has only managed a few days of school this year,” she said.
“Everything depends on his health; he’s now on a more aggressive form of chemotherapy and has had to be on a morphine drip to control pain.”
» Cards can be sent to PO Box 1617, Werribee, 3030
