I celebrated my 41st birthday this week and I had lots of lovely text messages, emails and Facebook posts wishing me well on my day. It was a stark contrast to last year’s fundraising extravaganza and the day passed doing my favourite things, spending time with my family, eating lunch at my local cafe, cupcakes made by my nephews and enjoying a generally laid back kinda day.

So a year later what is the impact of Paying40Forward?

The injection of the fundraising we achieved from the Paying40Forward campaign, along with fundraising by other families just like us, the Australasian Shunt Registry is certainly moving in the right direction. It has now been almost a year since the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia invited the relevant hospitals around the country to participate in the registry. 50% of the eligible hospitals are now participating in the registry, with 19 of those fully approved and collecting data with over 100 records now in the database.

The shunt registry also has its own website (www.shuntregistry.com.au) where you can find out all about it as well as see which sites are participating – these include hospitals from all over Australia and a couple in New Zealand as well – a very stark contrast from a year ago when only 1  Sydney hospital was entering the ethics process and there was little information available about the shunt registry unless you were “in the know”.

So I would say, we as group, came together and had a great fun party and can honestly say we have had a significant impact on the Australasian Shunt Registry.

Of course the work continues and our friends at the Hydrocephalus Support Association continue the fundraising and awareness work tirelessly to keep this issue in the front of minds of our MPs, the medical institutions and the general public. The HSA held their annual conference in April, we were lucky enough to attend and meet Dr Brian Owler, the neurosurgeon who has been a driving force behind the shunt registry, he thanked us for our support and gave us a great perspective from a surgeon’s point of view about why the registry is important to them and making them better at their job.

The Gandhi quote pictured above was given to me on a birthday card for my 40th and it still sits on my fridge a year later. It is true, we as individuals can “be the change” for the better by putting ourselves out there. I will admit sometimes it is not easy, but hell yes! its worth it.

So if you are looking for a cause, got a spare $2 or generally feel like paying it forward yourself – my answer is … be the change and do it – it does make a difference and you can be a part of making  someone else’s life better.

Donate to the Hydrocephalus Support Association here – and keep the great work going!