Paige McKay's courageous journey takes centre stage
Fremantle Dockers faced a setback against Greater Western Sydney on Saturday, but their upcoming clash with Sydney on Thursday night draws inspiration from seven-year-old Paige McKay. The young cancer survivor, who battled a brain tumour, designed the custom Starlight T-shirts the players will wear during the warm-up at Optus Stadium.
Paige's ordeal began with a loss of fine motor skills in her right hand, followed by weakness in her right leg, difficulty playing sport, and morning sickness. An urgent MRI revealed a Pilocytic Astrocytoma, a brain tumour affecting a ventricle and causing dangerous fluid buildup. She underwent emergency brain surgeries, shunt placements, port insertion, and chemotherapy. When the tumour grew rapidly, crushing both ventricles, doctors performed a third emergency brain surgery. A new trial medication, along with ongoing therapies, stabilized her condition and reduced the tumour size.
Starlight Foundation provides crucial support
Throughout the ordeal, the Starlight Children's Foundation became a guiding light for the McKay family. Paige's mother, Ami McKay, expressed gratitude: "We love Starlight. Starlight is what gets us through this entire medical journey. To imagine not having the Starlight opportunities here, what a horrible experience that would have been to see."
Thursday's top-of-the-table match against Sydney marks the Dockers' 24th annual Starlight Purple Haze Game, a fixture aimed at raising funds for seriously ill children. Since 2003, the event has raised over $3.6 million for the Starlight Children's Foundation.
Fundraising initiatives and fan involvement
Fans can pledge any dollar amount for each goal Fremantle kicks during the game. South32 will match pledges up to $100,000, doubling donations. Starlight wands and beanies will be sold at the ground, with proceeds supporting the foundation.
Paige's winning T-shirt design features stars and a rocket ship. "I drew the stars, I just started by drawing a line and another line and then it was a star," she said. "But my favourite part is the rocket ship."
Players inspired by Starlight children
Dockers midfielder Caleb Serong highlighted the impact of interacting with Starlight children. "It's incredibly powerful coming and just seeing how much a small interaction can just mean so much to these kids," Serong said. "We get so much out of it selfishly, because you feel so great, you can have an impact on someone else, but also just seeing what it does for them, that's amazing. You get to make such an incredible impact on people, you walk out so energised and enthused, it just puts everything in perspective."
Serong expects a large crowd, potentially breaking attendance records. "As soon as I found out it was going to be Sydney, I had a fair inkling it was going to be a big game," he said. "I think we might break the attendance record so it's exciting. I'm so grateful that we get such a big stage for it, and it creates so much awareness for Starlight, because they deserve it."
Paige's dream to become a Docker
Paige, who now enjoys watching football at the stadium, dreams of playing for the Dockers. "I like watching football," she said. "I've been at the actual stadium before, watching the actual game and that was really fun. I want to be a girl Docker one day."
Her mother has become a dedicated fan. "We're definitely Dockers fans now," Ms McKay said. "Before, life got in the way of sport, but now we make more of an effort. It's completely different when you actually meet the players and see them take a bit more of a personal interest in your child. She gets so excited, so happy, especially for the (AFLW) girls. Seeing her this happy today with the Freo players is absolutely priceless."
